Age estimation charts for a modern Australian population.

Calculation of the biological age of an individual has application in many fields of dentistry. It can be used to determine the appropriate timing of interventionist treatment for example in orthodontics; to analyse the developmental stage of an individual relative to the general population in the management of genetic or congenital conditions which disturb growth; and to estimate the age of a living or deceased person for forensic purposes. Many of the techniques used to estimate age can be quite time consuming to complete. This time component is a major disadvantage in a forensic context when age estimations in mass disasters are required as part of the post-mortem examination process. Consequently, forensic practitioners have tended to use the simpler but less reliable atlas style techniques of Schour and Massler and Ubelaker in these situations. For mass disaster situations, such as the recent Victorian Bushfires, it would be advantageous to have access to Australian specific data in the convenient Schour and Massler format. This project reinterpreted the Australian data previously collected by Blenkin and other relevant studies and applied it to a schematic similar to that of Ubelaker to develop a reliable, convenient and contemporary reference for use in age estimation.