Age Estimation in Forensic Odontology: A Review

Age is one of the essential factors, which play an important role in very aspect of life. Person recognition is ian important feature of forensic medicine and dentistry. Age, gender, race, and so on is used for identification of a person. Chronological age, as recorded by registration of birth date, is used throughout an individual‟s life. Age estimation is of wider importance in Forensic medicine, not only for the purpose of identifying deceased victims, but also in connection with crime and accidents. Methods of age iestimation in forensic odontology generally use dentition and craniofacial skeleton. The stages of development of teeth are among the most reliable tools in the process of identification of age, especially in the first and second decades. Later it depends on certain physical, chemical and biological changes, which affect the teeth and the craniofacial skeleton. The present article provides an overview of the most commonly used dental age estimation techniques in children and in adults described in the literature of Forensic dentistry like Teeth calcification, Demirjian‟s formula, Gustafson‟s method, Kvaal‟s method.