Carabelli`s trait (CT) is one of the most intensively studied dental morphological traits. Majority of published studies are performed on permanent teeth. Studies of expression of CT on deciduous teeth are very rare especially if performed on archaeological samples. Respecting that deciduous molars are morphologically considered a model for the permanent molars (isomorphy), examining deciduous molars it is possible to get data on crown patterns of permanent molars in an indirect way. This is very important in bioarchaeological investigations where the possibilities of crown patterns study are limited by excessive tooth wear. The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence and degree of expression of a CT on deciduous molars in samples from late antique - LA (3rd – 6th century) and medieval - M (7th – 11th century). Research has been carried out on 68 subadult Caucasian skulls (12 LA and 56 M) with 130 intact deciduous maxillary second molars excavated at 6 archaeological sites in Croatia. Expression of CT was classified according to the 8 level Dahlberg’s scale. CT was identified on 41.67% of examined teeth in LA sample and on 50.00% in M sample. Frequency of tubercle and cusp forms only was in LA sample 25.00% and 8.92% in M sample. There were no statistically significant differences in frequencies. According to the frequencies of CT both samples belong to the Garn`s intermediate frequency group. Deciduous molars of archaeological samples are often intact and should be used as substitute if permanent molars are unavailable for examination.

AIM: Aim of this study was to evaluate Demirjian's methods for dental age calculation for children based on estimation of mineralization stages of permanent teeth when applied on children in Macedonia. METHOD: The sample of panoramic radiographs was selected from children aged 5-13 who were attending faculty clinics at the University of Skopje. Totally 471 radiographs of children were evaluated (233 boys and 238 girls) using four Demirjian’s methods. Different sets of teeth were scored with one of eight stages of development (A-H). One method from 1973 is based on evaluation of 7 permanent teeth from left side of mandible and three methods from 1976 (one method based on evaluation of 7 permanent teeth and two methods based on evaluation different sets of four teeth: PM1, PM2, M1, M2 ; and I1, PM1, PM2, M2) from the left side of mandible. Kappa score was used for evaluation of intra-rater and inter-rater agreement. RESULTS: The mean Kappa score was 0.86 for intra-rater and 0.80 for inter-rater agreement. All four methods statistically significantly overestimated dental age comparing to real age (p<0.001). The mean overestimation for both genders was the least in PM1, PM2, M1, M2 method (0.86±0.95 year), following I2, PM2, M1, M2 method (0.96±0.97 year) and method from 1976 using 7 teeth (0.96±0.97 year). The greatest overestimation was for method from 1973 using 7 teeth (1.11±1.00 year). CONCLUSION: Demirjian's methods for dental age calculation are not suitable for children in Macedonia.

Estimation of age at death is an essential part of reconstructing information from skeletal material. The aim of the investigation was to reconstruct the chronological age of an archaeological sample from Croatia using cranial skeletal remains as well as to make an evaluation of the methods used for age estimation. For this purpose, four age calculation methods were used: palatal suture closure, occlusal tooth wear, tooth root translucency and pulp/tooth area ratio. Cramer's V test was used to test the association between the age calculation methods. Cramer's V test showed high association (0.677) between age determination results using palatal suture closure and occlusal tooth wear, and low association (0.177) between age determination results using palatal suture closure and pulp/tooth area ratio. Simple methods like palatal suture closure can provide data about age at death for large number of individuals, but with less accuracy. More complex methods which require qualified and trained personnel can provide data about age for a smaller number of individuals, but with more accuracy. Using different (both simple and complex) age calculation methods in archaeological samples can raise the level of confidence and percentage of success in determining age.

Objectives To determine if the addition of an inhaled equimolar mixture of nitrous oxide (N2O) and oxygen (EMONO) would produce superior pain relief to standard pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures during eye examination screening for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in premature infants. Study design A randomised, double-blind controlled trial was conducted. Setting Royal Victoria Hospital, a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit in Montreal, Canada. Patients Stable spontaneously breathing premature infants with birth weights less than 1500 g or gestation of 30 weeks and less. Intervention During the eye examination, all infants were swaddled, received oral sucrose and topical anaesthetics. Control group infants received a mixture of 50% oxygen and 50% nitrogen (n=18) administered by nasal cannula, while the intervention group received EMONO (50% oxygen and 50% N2O). Main outcome measures Pain was assessed by the premature infant pain profile (PIPP). Results The mean PIPP score at speculum insertion in the control group (8.4, 95% CI 7.6 to 9.3) was comparable with the EMONO group (8.5, 95% CI 7.3 to 9.8) with a p value of 0.94. There were no significant differences in heart rate or saturation between the two groups. EMONO inhalation was tolerated without any measured side effects. Conclusion EMONO does not produce any additional pain relief over currently used measures during ROP screening eye examinations. Systematically combining pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment modalities appears to be the best option until newer treatments are proven effective. Clinical trials registration number NCT00623220

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.

Salivary gland inclusions in the mandible are relatively uncommon in recent as well as archaeological populations. This condition is well known to oral surgeons, but less so to anthropologists, osteologists and skeletal biologists. At present a limited number of reports pertaining to this condition in ancient populations are available in anthropological and palaeopathological literature, although scattered reports of cases in recent populations are found in dental journals. This paper analyses the prevalence of Stafne's bone defect in a large composite Croatian archaeological series (n = 4250 mandibles), and reports on two cases in which computerised tomography was performed, in order to draw the attention of anthropologists, osteologists and skeletal biologists to this condition when faced with differential diagnosis of odontogenic lesions, cysts and neoplasms in the area of the angle of the mandible. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dental age estimation in children plays an important role in forensic dentistry. The most wide used method for age estimation developed by Demirjian in 1973 on French-Canadian sample generally overestimates dental age in many population. Chaillet's international maturity scores were formed to obtain a predicted age with more confidence when ethnical origin was not available. The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of Chaillet's international scores for the dental age assessment in Croatian children. Methods: panoramic radiographs of 1475 children, 805 girls and 670 boys, from 4.79 to 14.92 years, were assessed using Chaillet's international maturity tables and curves. The dental age was compared to the chronological age through a paired t-test for both genders separately. Mean overestimation using Chaillet's international maturity scores were 0.19±0.77 year for girls (P<0.001) and 0.50±0.83 year for boys (P<0.001). Absolute accuracy of residuals between dental and chronological age were 0.63(0.48) years for girls (Median: 0.54 year) and 0.75(0.60) years for boys (Median: 0.62 year). Polynomial compound formula was recommended to predict dental age with more accuracy for results of international maturity scores in Croatian children.

The aims of this study were to evaluate adopted Haavikko method (1974) based on Finnish sample for dental age estimation in Bosnian-Herzegovian children and to create reference centile curves with LMS method for clinical, legal and forensic usage. Materials and methods In cross-sectional, retrospective study, the panoramic radiographs (OPGs) taken from 805 girls and 636 boys in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged between 4 and 15 years, were studied. Method is based on scoring of four permanent teeth, 41, 44, 46, and 47 up to 10 years of age and and 13, 43, 44, and 47 in children over 10 years of age, with one of 12 mineralization stages. Dental age is than computed from the Haavikko’s tables as the mean of all four teeth. Kappa statistic and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used for testing intra- and inter-observer repeatability of mineralization stages and observed dental age by assessments of 10% (N=144) of OPGs. Results showed that Haavikko’s method underestimate the dental age in the BH children. Mean underestimation was -0.33 (SD 0.72) years in girls and -0.12(SD 0.82) years in boys. Cohen kappa scores were 0.79 for intra- and 0.80 for inter-observer agreement for mineralization stages and average measures for ICC for dental age were 0.98 for intra- and 0.90 for inter-observer agreement. In addition, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 50th, 95th, 97th and 99th centile curves of chronological age against the dental age were constructed for girls and boys separately using the LMS method by Cole and Green (LMS ChartMaker Software, Medical Research Council, UK), which could be used for age estimation in the BH children.

The aim of this cross-sectional retrospective study was to compare the accuracy of three radiographic methods for age estimation using orthopantomogram radiographs (OPGs) from developing children. OPGs of 2652 children (1214 boys and 1438 girls, aged 5.22–14.92 years) with 1474 children from Croatia and 1178 children from Bosnia and Herzegovina were examined and seven mandibular teeth from left side of mandible were assessed using Cameriere’s method by measurement of open apices in teeth, mineralization stages of four different teeth from right side of jaws using Haavikko’s adopted method based on Finnish children and Demirjian's mineralization stages of seven teeth from left side of mandible for Willems’ method with updated scoring based on Belgian children. The mean difference(±SD) in years between dental and chronological age (DA-CA) was calculated for each method. Results show that the most accurate method was by Cameriere (boys -0.08 ± 0.71, girls -0.03 ± 0.70 years), Haavikko’s method underestimated age more (boys -0.09 ± 0.80, girls -0.34 ± 0.75 years), while Willems’ method overestimated age (boys 0.51 ± 0.79, girls 0.28 ± 0.83 years). According to the analysis of variance, no statistically significant differences were found in results of DA-CA between children from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for each method. No statistically significant difference of DA-CA was found between boys and girls for Cameriere’s method, for Haavikko and Willems method there were statistically significant differences between genders. Statistically significant differences were found in results of DA-CA among different age groups for each method. Published results could be used in clinical, forensic and anthropological purposes when sample of children was used from specified countries.

The aims of this study were to test the applicability of the two Demirjian’s self-weighted scores (1976) based on four teeth from left side of mandible in children in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) and to expand age prediction models for observed population. Materials and methods: In cross-sectional, retrospective study, the panoramic radiographs (OPGs) taken from 805 girls and 636 boys in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged between 4 and 15 years, were scored following the two Demirjian’s scores based on ratings one of eight stages (A-H) of calcification of four different teeth from left side of mandible ; PM1, PM2, M1, M2 ; and I1, PM1, PM2, M2. Dental age was obtained by finding the age at which the 50th percentile value equals the maturity score. Kappa statistic and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used for testing intra- and inter-observer repeatability of mineralization stages and dental age by assessments of 10% (N=144) of OPGs. Results: Mean Cohen kappa values were 0.82 for intra- and 0.81 for inter-observer agreement of mineralization stages. ICCs were 0.980 for intra- and 0.978 for inter-observer repeatability for PM1, PM2, M1, M2 teeth and 0.982 for intra- and 0.981 for inter-observer repeatability for I1, PM1, PM2, M2 teeth. Both scores overestimates the dental age in the BH sample, the mean overestimations were 0.82(SD 0.97) year in girls and 0.53(SD 0.88) year in boys for PM1, PM2, M1, M2 teeth and 1.07(SD 0.94) year in girls and 0.67(SD 0.88) year for I1, PM1, PM2, M2 teeth. In addition, different regression models were tested for estimation of age as a function of maturity score for both scores and genders, separately.