Cristiana Palmela Pereira1, Ana Rodrigues2, Adriana Santos3, Francisco Salvado4, Rui Santos5, Roberto Cameriere6. 1. Faculty of Dental Medicine, FORENSEMED from UICOB, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Centre of Statistics and Applications of University of Lisbon (CEAUL), Forensic Analysis Group, Portugal. Electronic address: cpereira@campus.ul. 2. Faculty of Dental Medicine, FORENSEMED from UICOB, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Centre of Statistics and Applications of University of Lisbon (CEAUL), Forensic Analysis Group, Portugal. Electronic address: ana.m.rodrigues@campus.ul.pt. 3. Faculty of Dental Medicine, FORENSEMED from UICOB, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Centre of Statistics and Applications of University of Lisbon (CEAUL), Forensic Analysis Group, Portugal. Electronic address: adrianaresende@campus.ul.pt. 4. Centre of Statistics and Applications of University of Lisbon (CEAUL), Forensic Analysis Group, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Stomatology Department (Santa Maria Hospital - Lisbon), Portugal. Electronic address: fjsalvado2002@yahoo.com. 5. Centre of Statistics and Applications of University of Lisbon (CEAUL), Forensic Analysis Group, Portugal; Department of Mathematics, School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal. Electronic address: rui.santos@ipleiria.pt. 6. Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Sechenov, Moscow, Russia; AgEstimation Project, FOR.MED.LAB, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy. Electronic address: agestimationproject@gmail.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to estimate the cut-off points for the Portuguese legal ages through the I3M, and to compare them with the methods of Demirjian, Nolla and Moorrees. DESIGN: The lower third molars were analyzed on 348 orthopantomography's aged between 12 and 23 years in a Portuguese Population. The images were analyzed by ImageJ and the cut-off points were calculated for the respective legal ages of 14, 16, 18 and 21 years old. RESULTS: The correlation between age and the I3M was 0.862, whereas with Demirjian's stadiums, Nolla's stages, and Moorrees' stages the correlation coefficients were 0.863, 0.842 and 0.844, respectively. For the cut-off point of 0.08 for the age of 18, a sensitivity of 78.99 %, specificity of 93.48 %, an accuracy of 88.54 %, a positive predictive value of 86.24 % and a posteriori Bayes probability of 92.82 %. The cut-off points established for the ages of 14, 16, 18 and 21 years for the Portuguese population achieved an accuracy of 83.67 %, 85.67 %, 88.54 % and 87.11 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: Demirjian's method and Cameriere's method attain quite similar results. In certain ages, the methods of Nolla and Moorrees show higher sensitivity or higher specificity when compared to Cameriere's method, however this last method is more stable in terms of reliability and more suitable to use in the Portuguese population.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to estimate the cut-off points for the Portuguese legal ages through the I3M, and to compare them with the methods of Demirjian, Nolla and Moorrees. DESIGN: The lower third molars were analyzed on 348 orthopantomography's aged between 12 and 23 years in a Portuguese Population. The images were analyzed by ImageJ and the cut-off points were calculated for the respective legal ages of 14, 16, 18 and 21 years old. RESULTS: The correlation between age and the I3M was 0.862, whereas with Demirjian's stadiums, Nolla's stages, and Moorrees' stages the correlation coefficients were 0.863, 0.842 and 0.844, respectively. For the cut-off point of 0.08 for the age of 18, a sensitivity of 78.99 %, specificity of 93.48 %, an accuracy of 88.54 %, a positive predictive value of 86.24 % and a posteriori Bayes probability of 92.82 %. The cut-off points established for the ages of 14, 16, 18 and 21 years for the Portuguese population achieved an accuracy of 83.67 %, 85.67 %, 88.54 % and 87.11 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: Demirjian's method and Cameriere's method attain quite similar results. In certain ages, the methods of Nolla and Moorrees show higher sensitivity or higher specificity when compared to Cameriere's method, however this last method is more stable in terms of reliability and more suitable to use in the Portuguese population.