Short communication
Age estimation of unaccompanied minors: Part II. Dental aspects

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Abstract

Recent years have brought a worldwide increase in cross-border migration due to a globalized economy and ongoing belligerent conflicts. As a result, the percentage of foreigners among the general population has steadily increased not only in Germany, but also in other countries. This trend has triggered a growing demand for forensic medicine to assess the age of adolescents and young adults. The individuals examined here are unaccompanied minors without valid identification documents who do not know their age or else are suspected of not giving their correct age.

The mineralization of third molars is the main criterion for dental age estimation of living subjects in the relevant age group. To date insufficient knowledge has been obtained about how ethnic origin can influence tooth mineralization. This, however, constitutes a restraint on the reliability of age estimates and hence on the forensic value of information essential to legal security. A comparative study was conducted to present comparative data on third molar mineralization in a Caucasoid, Mongoloid and African sample. In conclusion, forensic age estimates of living subjects would be more powerful tools if population-specific standards were applied to evaluations of wisdom tooth mineralization.

Since the mineralization of third molars is usually completed by the age of 19 or 20 years, this feature cannot be used to ascertain whether a person has attained the forensically relevant age of 21 years. The question was whether determination based on an orthopantomogram of a combination of features relevant to dental age estimation of adults supplies forensically useful information for ascertaining whether a person has attained 21 years of age. The features considered include the DMFT index of all permanent teeth, the DMFT index of all permanent teeth excluding third molars and the DFT index of third molars projecting beyond the occlusal plane.

It can be concluded that an evaluation of the variations of the DMFT index does not by itself yield sufficient data to determine with the accuracy required in criminal proceedings whether a person has attained 21 years of age. An additional X-ray examination of the medial clavicular epiphyseal cartilage is, therefore, strongly recommended when assessing whether a person is over 21.

Section snippets

Wisdom tooth mineralization—ethnic differences

One question of major practical relevance to estimating age from a dental view is whether the reference data customarily used for forensic diagnosis, derived from white North Americans on the one hand and Central and Northern Europeans on the other, can also be applied to members of other ethnic groups.

To date insufficient knowledge has been obtained about how ethnic origin can influence tooth mineralization. This, however, constitutes a restraint on the reliability of age estimates and hence

Radiologically determined DMF index variations for forensic age estimation of young adults

The main criterion for dental age estimation is the evaluation of third molar mineralization. Since the development of third molars is usually completed by the age of 19 or 20 years [16], [17], [18], [19], this feature cannot be used to ascertain whether a person has attained the forensically relevant age of 21 years.

The aim of the present study [19] was to examine whether the evaluation of various roentgeno-morphologic characteristics relevant for dental age estimation of adults supplies

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