Age estimation among Brazilians: Younger or older than 18?

The age estimation of living or dead individuals is an important part of forensic science because it can be used in various situations, including mass disasters, or for civil or criminal reasons, such as adoption or asylum. Teeth play a major role in this context because they are more resistant than bones in extreme environmental conditions and their development is hardly affected by exogenous or endogenous factors. Because the third molars (3rdM) are still in development from the age of 14, they are useful for determining whether an individual has reached the legal age of 18 years. This study aims to verify the method of Cameriere et al. (2008) in Brazil to discriminate whether an individual is under or over 18 years from the maturity index of the 3rdM (I3m). The analysis of 444 panoramic radiographs resulted in a sensitivity of 78.3%, a specificity of 85.1% and a correct classification of 87%. Significant differences in sexual dimorphism in the early mineralization of males were found only for the average age with I3m ≥ 0.08, except for the range (0.7, 0.9). Due to the high miscegenation ratio of the Brazilian population the ancestry was not one of the studied variables. The method is suitable for estimating adulthood for forensic purposes in Brazil, although it must be applied carefully and judiciously. We recommend a combination of several methods that are available to increase accuracy as well as the establishment of different parameters that are likely to determine whether a person is more or less than 18 years of age, depending on the different legal requirements, whether civil or criminal.