Dental Age Estimation in Croatian Children Aged 5–14 Years
Dental age estimation plays an important role in orthodontics and forensic dentistry. The method employed to assess dental age in this study was developed by Demirjian and his colleagues in 1973 based upon French-Canadian samples. This method is one of the most widely used methods in the world today. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the applicability of Demirjian's method from 1976 in the dental age assessment Croatian children aged 5-14. Methods: Digitalised panoramic radiographs of 1117 children of Croatian origin, 580 girls and 537 boys whose age ranged from 5 to 14 years old, were assessed using Demirjian's method. The dental ages were compared to the chronological ages through a paired t-test. Results: The results showed that Croatian children demonstrated a more advanced dental age compared to French-Canadian children as previously presented by Demirjian. The overall mean difference between the dental age and chronological age is 1.48 years in girls and 1.84 years in boys. Conclusion: The French-Canadian standards for dental age assessment provided by Demirjian are not suitable for Croatian children. Specifically, a necessity has arisen: locally based standards of dental age assessment should be established for the population of Croatia.