Biochemical analyses for dental age estimation: a review

Abstract

Background For various legal and forensic scenarios, establishing an individual’s age, both living and dead, plays a crucial role. Various morphological, radiographic, and molecular methods can be used for age estimation. In children and adolescents, age estimation is based on the established developmental stages. However, in adults, where the development ceases into maturation, the degenerative changes play a role in determining the age. Main body of the abstract In the natural aging process, several molecular changes occur most commonly in the long-living proteins and hard tissues like the teeth and bone. These molecular changes gradually lead to alterations in several organs and organ systems, which can be quantified and correlated with age, including aspartic acid racemization, collagen crosslinks, advanced glycation-end products, and mitochondrial DNA mutations. Short conclusion Among the above methods, the racemization of aspartic acid can be considered as the most precise method. The main advantage of using aspartic acid racemization is that the sample can be collected from tissues (teeth) protected from various environmental and nutritional factors. If all the confounding factors are stable, the utilization of advanced glycation-end products can also be considered valuable. Environmental factors like lead accumulations may also help determine the age. However, further studies need to be conducted, focusing on providing a more standardized method. This review provides a concise summary of the biochemical techniques that can be used for estimation of age.

Integrating artificial intelligence and adult dental age estimation in forensic identification: A literature review

“…Biochemical methods offer several advantages over morphological and radiographic methods, such as being less subjective and providing more consistent results. However, further studies are needed to provide a more standardized method for dental age estimation [17].…”

Characterization and preparation of food-derived peptides on improving osteoporosis: A review

“…Additionally, due to the inter- and intramolecular interaction, TRACP5b shows high stability in serum ( Lv et al, 2015 ). Deoxypyridinoline and pyridinoline, compounds composed of cross-linked collagen, are released during the degradation of collagen in bone and dentin ( Pillalamarri, Manyam, Pasupuleti, Birajdar and Akula, 2022 ). These cross-linked compounds are excreted through the kidney and are detectable in urine and serum either as free form or bound to peptides.…”

The challenge of unidentified decedents in Africa: The need for training and research in forensic odontology to strengthen a multidisciplinary approach

“…The fourth aspect is advanced biomolecular methods which may be used for age estimation, the establishment of provenance, and gender determination. The advanced biomolecular methods include aspartic acid racemisation, carbon dating, advanced glycation end products, the composition of teeth, collagen crosslinks, lead accumulation, mitochondrial deletions, DNA methylation, signal joint t-cell receptor excision circles in human lymphoid tissues (sjTRCs), telomere shortening, isotope, and DNA analysis ( 57 – 63 ).…”