Abstract #1421

Dental Age Estimation of Living Persons: Comparison of MRI with the Gold Standard, the Orthopantomogram

Pia Baumann¹,², Thomas Widek¹, Heiko Merkens¹, Julian Boldt³, Andreas Petrovic¹,⁴, Barbara Kirnbauer⁵, Norbert Jakse⁵, Eva Scheurer¹,²

¹Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical-Forensic Imaging, Graz, Austria; ²Medical University, Graz, Austria; ³Department of Prosthodontics, Julius Maximilians University, Wrzburg, Germany; ⁴University of Technology, Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz, Austria; ⁵University Clinic for Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine, Graz, Austria

Dental age estimation is important for forensic age estimation in living adolescents which to date is based on the evaluation of an orthopantomogram. However, the use of ionizing radiation without medical indication is not permitted in many countries. In this study, MRI was compared to the orthopantomogram regarding dental development. The developmental stages could well be differentiated in MRI. While mineralization in the MRI tended to be associated with stages higher than in the orthopantomogram, eruption showed an almost perfect correlation between both methods. These results show that MRI might replace the orthopantomogram for dental age estimation in the future.