Original Article

Year : 2017 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 2 | Page : 55 - 61

Validation of the Efficacy of Age Assessment by the Miles Tooth Wear Chart, Using Skulls of Known Age at Death

Ario Santini12, Mohammed S Aldossary3, Ibrahim Alayan4

From the 1 Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Targu Mures, Romania,2 Edinburgh Dental Institute,, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 3 Department of Dentistry, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 4 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Zliten Dental School, Al-Asmarya Islamic University, Zliten, Libya

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Mohammed S Aldossary, E‐mail: msfd99@hotmail.com

Background:

Age estimation is critical for identification purposes in forensic medicine, with various methods have been proposed for age assessment.

Aims:

The present study aims to validate the effectiveness of age assessment by the Miles tooth wear chart, uniquely using skulls of recorded known age at death.

Materials and Methods:

Fifty Chinese skulls, of known age recorded at death, ranging from 16 to 62 years, were used. All the skulls were anonymized and outnumbered 1–50, using randomized tables. A 70 mm, ×3 magnification glass with light was used to evaluate tooth wear patterns, and the age was assessed using a newly devised “age calculator” based on the Miles chart.

Statistical Analysis:

Bland–Altman plots were used for statistical comparisons.

Results:

First and second molars and means of both allowed circa 86% of cases to be allocated within ±5 years of their actual age. Accuracy diminishes when skulls are over 40 years old at death.

Conclusions:

The Miles chart can, with caution, be used to arrive at a reasonable estimation of age in this Chinese population.

Key Words: Age estimation, Chinese skulls, forensic odontology, Miles chart, tooth wear

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article:

Santini A, Aldossary MS, Alayan I. Validation of the efficacy of age assessment by the miles tooth wear chart, using skulls of known age at death. Int J Forensic Odontol 2017;2:55-61.