Age estimation by tooth/pulp ratio in canines by peri-apical X-rays: reliability in age determination of Spanish and Italian medieval skeletal remains

Abstract

Estimation of age at death is an unavoidable step in the process of human identification, both in forensic\ud practice and in the anthropological and palaeopathological study of skeletal remains. In several cases, in\ud which medical or demographic records are completely lacking, a reliable estimation of the age at death\ud becomes very important. Skeletal remains from archaeological contexts suffer from several biasing\ud factors such as post-mortem changes, taphonomy and various burial practices depending on age, sex and\ud social status of the deceased persons.\ud Currently, anthropological methods of age determination reveal several possibilities of inaccuracy. Of\ud all the body parts used in age estimation, teeth are the least affected by any taphonomic process.\ud Although there are many dental methods for age at death estimation, some of them are very complex\ud and/or destructive and they are not normally used in anthropology. However, study of the apposition of\ud secondary dentine by examining peri-apical X-rays of canines is beginning to supply very interesting\ud results.\ud The aim of this work was to test Cameriere’s method on a large sample of historical subjects from\ud several cemeteries in Spain and Italy. The Spanish sample belongs to the Medieval cemetery of La Torrecilla\ud (Arenas del Rey, Granada) and is housed in the Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine,\ud University of Granada. The Italian samples come from the Medieval cemeteries of Comacchio (Ferrara)\ud and Castel S. Pietro (Bologna).\ud In order to test the reliability of Cameriere’s method, age estimations of canines were compared with\ud the mean ranges of age of the most commonly applied anthropological methods such as tooth wear\ud changes in the pubic symphysis or the metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the ilium. Tests on these\ud Middle Ages cemeteries produced satisfactory results, indicating that Cameriere’s method is a reliable\ud tool in determining age at death in skeletal remains of archaeological context

Accuracy of Dental Age in Nonadults: A Comparison of Two Methods for Age Estimation Using Radiographs of Developing Teeth

“…More importantly these changes to the maturing skeleton described above occur sequentially and are relatively consistent in timing and duration (Algee-Hewitt 2013). Thus, because of the regular progression and relatively short interval in which human growth occurs relative to the average lifespan, more accurate age-at-death estimates can be produced for non-adults remains than those of adult individuals (De Luca 2010, Franklin 2010.…”

“…Research indicates that dental development is under greater genetic control and less susceptible to environmental influences (Cunha et al 2009, Franklin 2010, Saunders 2000. In addition, dental tissues are highly mineralized and thus more resistant to postmortem alterations (De Luca et al 2010, Meinl et al 2008.…”

“…For nonadults, age estimation methods that utilize the dentition are frequently used because teeth are more durable and under greater genetic control than other skeletal tissues (2,4). In addition, dental tissues are highly mineralized and thus more resistant to postmortem alterations (5,6). Methods that focus on dentition examine the development and eruption of teeth either by direct visual evaluation or from radiographs (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12).…”

Bayesian calibration for forensic age estimation

“…Over the past decade, several research articles [22][23][24][25][26] have used apposition of secondary dentin to develop new age estimation methods. To illustrate the performance of the ALBC method we applied it to a dataset collected in the framework of the "AgEstimation Project" [27].…”

Mandibular Fracture and Dislocation in a Case Study from the Jewish Cemetery of Lucena (CÓRDOBA), in South Iberian Peninsula (8th–12th ad)

“…This method analyzes the apposition of secondary dentine in the pulp chamber which is proven to be reliable, regardless of the historical period of the specimen, and particularly suitable for adult individuals. The peri‐apical X‐ray image of the right lower canine was employed together with a computer‐aided drafting programme (ADOBE Photoshop® CS4) in order to estimate the areas of the canine and its pulp chamber (Cameriere et al ., ; De Luca et al ., ). The estimated dental age was of 40.1 years.…”