Objectives: To compare Demirjian Dental scoring method with Greulich-Pyle (GP) Skeletal method of age estimation in pubertal children.
Materials and Methods: Sample of the study included 267 male healthy subjects of 11-16 years of age group.. Demirjian Scoring system was utilized to evaluate the orthopantomograms to assess their Dental age and the Hand-Wrist radiographs were analyzed to calculate the skeletal age by utilizing GP atlas. Chronological age was obtained from the date of birth of the subject .Both methods were compared with one another and with the chronological age. It was a cross-sectional study and only healthy male subjects without any clinical abnormalities were included in the study.
Results: A total of 267 male subjects of 11-16 years of age group were assessed by Demirjian and Greulich Pyle Methods. Both were compared with Chronological Age. Data obtained was statistically analyzed and the Student “t” test was applied in the study population. The mean difference between Chronolgical age and dental age was 0.69years and that of chronological age and skeletal age was 0.87 years. It was observed from dental age assessment that it does not differ much from the skeletal age.
Conclusion: It was concluded that Demirjian method of Age Estimation is more precise than Greulich Pyle method of Age Estimation. Furthermore both methods can be used selectively in Medicolegal cases to access bone age which can be easily correlated to chronological age.
Comparison of the validity of two dental age estimation methods: A study on South Indian population
