Estimation of Age by Pulp Tooth Area Ratio Using Three Computer Aided Software's
Estimation of age in an individual whether living or dead has received a considerable attention in forensic science. Recently, the dental maturation system has gained impetus as a valuable index for age estimation, as teeth are more resistant to most peri and post mortem changes. Radiological age estimation using teeth rely on developmental stages of teeth especially in children while in adults; the continuous deposition of secondary dentin throughout life is depicted by reduction in pulp area. Through this paper we bring across a radiological study to estimate the age of an individual via 3 computer aided software's on maxillary central incisor. 30 periapical radiographs of individual aged 12 to 30 years were taken using radiovisiography (RVG) Radiographic images were processed using the software; data was statistically analyzed to compare the age. There was no statistical significant difference in age calculated by Adobe Photoshop and Auto CAD, Adobe Photoshop p=0.432 and Auto CAD p=0.004; though there was significant statistical difference in age calculated by Image J, p<0.001. It was concluded that pulp/tooth area ratios of maxillary central incisor are reliable for estimation of age and AutoCAD gave the most accurate results.