Can canines alone be used for age estimation in Chinese individuals when applying the Kvaal method?

作     者：Mujia Li Jiamin Zhao Wenjie Chen Xin Chen Guang Chu Teng Chen Yucheng Guo Mujia Li;Jiamin Zhao;Wenjie Chen;Xin Chen;Guang Chu;Teng Chen;Yucheng Guo

作者机构：Key Laboratory of Shaanxi Province for Craniofacial Precision Medicine ResearchCollege of StomatologyXi’an Jiaotong UniversityXi’anChina Department of OrthodonticsStomatological Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong UniversityXi’anChina College of Medicine and ForensicsXi’an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi’anChina 

出 版 物：《Forensic Sciences Research》 (法庭科学研究（英文）)

年 卷 期：2022年第7卷第2期

页      面：132-137页

核心收录：

学科分类：0402[教育学-心理学(可授教育学、理学学位）] 0710[理学-生物学] 0831[工学-生物医学工程（可授工学、理学、医学学位）] 0303[法学-社会学] 1004[医学-公共卫生与预防医学(可授医学、理学学位)] 1002[医学-临床医学] 1001[医学-基础医学(可授医学、理学学位)] 08[工学] 0838[工学-公安技术] 0703[理学-化学] 0702[理学-物理学] 

基　　金：This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China[grant number 81701869] the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation[grant number 2019M653664] the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities[grant number xjj2017168]. 

主　　题：Forensic sciences forensic odontology age estimation canine secondary dentine Kvaal method Chinese subjects 

摘      要：Due to the secondary dentin formation,the dental pulp undergoes changes in shape throughout life.Based on this phenomenon,the Kvaal method has been applied to various populations for age estimation,and its usefulness has been verified.When applying the Kvaal method to Chinese subjects,we observed a relatively strong correlation between mandibular canines and age.This study notes the correlation between canines and chronological age and is the first to identify which canine is most closely related to chronological age.In addition,a new,simpler formula is determined based on canines according to Kvaal’s methodology.The radiographs of 360 individuals from northern China were selected,from which the widths and lengths of the pulp from four canines were measured according to the Kvaal method.Next,inter-and intra-observer reliabilities were analyzed in order to assess the repeatability of these measurements.The correlation between measurements and age was examined,and Chinese-specific age estimation formulae were derived.The results revealed that the ratios from the left maxillary canine exhibited the strongest correlation with age compared to the other canines,whereas the left mandibular canine showed the weakest correlation,which may contribute to the overall poor correlation of mandibular canines with age.What’s more,the formula derived from the left maxillary canine in this study displayed the highest coefficients of determination,and the formula derived from all canines showed the lowest residuals.Both of these formulae performed better than the Chinese-specific formula derived from six different types of teeth in our previous study,which had formerly possessed the highest coefficients of determination and the lowest residuals.Thus,we concluded that canines do play an important role in age estimation in the Chinese population,and the correlation between maxillary canines and chronological age is stronger than that of mandibular canines,although no distinct trend as to which side is better correlated with age was established.Going forward,we recommend the analysis of additional samples from different geographical regions and populations to further verify the importance of canines in age estimation.