Evaluation of correlation between chronological age and pulp to tooth volume ratio according to tooth type and sex in cone beam computed tomography images of patients referred to the radiology department of Tabriz dental faculty

Abstract

Estimation of adultEs age by dental record can be done by measuring the decrease in the size of the pulp cavity as a result of the secretion of secondary dentin. Considering the fact that the CBCT imaging technique has sufficient accuracy in the determination of the internal anatomy of teeth, the purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between chronological age and the ratio of pulp to tooth volume in anterior teeth using CBCT images and to determine a model to predict age as well. Materials and Methods In this descriptive analytical study, 122 subjects (46 males, 76 females) in the age range between 13 and 70 years were enrolled. Overall the pulp to tooth volume ratios of 732 teeth were obtained using MIMICS software. To examine the relationship between age and the ratio of pulp to tooth volume, regression analysis was done. Results There was a significant negative correlation between age and the ratio of pulp to tooth volume in males and females in all types of teeth, and its severity in males was stronger than in females also this relation was stronger in maxillary central incisors and canines. The model which uses the total ratios of teeth had higher correlation than those which use individual ratio of tooth in prediction of age. Conclusion In total, the results of present study showed that it is better to use the total ratios of pulp to tooth of anterior teeth for age estimation in forensics.