Raman Microspectrometry: An Alternative Method of Age Estimation from Dentin and Cementum

Principal Component Regression for Forensic Age Determination Using the Raman Spectra of Teeth

“…In comparison to the previously published approaches based on the extraction of preselected parameters of individual Raman bands, 14,15 working with the whole Raman spectra for model building and later forensic application considerably simplifies the procedure. Additionally, macro-Raman measurements simulate spectra collection using a handheld Raman spectrometer, bringing the method closer to an actual forensic application.…”

“…Therefore, compositional changes of dentin correlate well with donor's age, which has been exploited in two aforementioned studies employing Raman spectrometry for age determination. 14,15 In these studies, access to intact dentin was accomplished by tooth sectioning. Such access to dentin within the bulk of the tooth was not possible in the present study due to the nondestructive specimen preparation.…”

“…13 However, only two studies have employed Raman spectrometry to relate the aging-dependent compositional changes in tooth tissues with the donor's age for forensic purposes. 14,15 In these studies, Raman spectra were collected from surfaces of longitudinally sectioned sound teeth and partial least squares regression was performed to correlate predefined compositional variables obtained from Raman spectra with tooth donor's age. The aforementioned studies were based on ideal case scenarios in which Raman spectra were collected from standardized, flat-cut specimen surfaces obtained from healthy teeth.…”

“…In addition, the spectral analysis in the present study was performed considering the whole Raman spectra, in contrast to the aforementioned studies which analyzed various combinations of parameters characterizing individual vibrational bands. 14,15 Instead of cutting the teeth to analyze their internal structure, Raman spectrometry in the present study was performed on more accessible external surfaces of teeth. The described approach was adopted in order to evaluate the feasibility of Raman spectrometric age determination by using nondestructive handling of teeth that were affected by various pathologies.…”

Ascertaining of age by Raman spectroscopic analysis of apical dentin – A forensic study

“…[8] Various studies have been done to estimate the age of an individual by Raman spectroscopic analysis of human dentin. [910] However, these studies involve Raman spectroscopic analysis of multiple areas in the coronal, mid, and root dentin, acquisition of multiple values from each region, and assessment of various groups such as phosphates, carbonates, and amides I and II, and the teeth assessed were noncarious. The present study was done with the aim to overcome the shortcomings of the previous studies and to ascertain the age of a specimen by assessing if the spectra obtained from a single age group correlated with each other and spectra obtained among the different age groups were different from each other.…”