Year : 2016

Volume : Volume 6

Issue : Issue 1s

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Vaishali Sharma
vaishalisharma@gmail.com

Abstract

Background:  Proper identification in forensic odontology is required for ethical, humanitarian and official records, in particular, the legal and criminal investigations. It enables us to construct a mortality profile of the deceased. A unique property of permanency is attributed by teeth since they are mineralized which makes them resistant to environmental insults. Hence; we planned the present study to evaluate the reliability of modified Gustafson's method of age estimation. Materials & Methods: The present study included assessment og extracted teeth from the individuals of age group of 20 to 60 years. After pre-extraction examination, the teeth were obtained by the researcher in the Department. Recording of the following parameters was done: Degree of attrition, Degree of root transparency, Degree of secondary dentin deposition, Cementum apposition and Root resorption. 10 percent neutral buffered formalin solution was used for preserving the extracted teeth. The degree of attrition was recorded by visual inspection and modified while reading the section microscopically. The various parameters were recorded using Gustafson's criteria and evaluation was done. Plotting of the graph was done using the actual age on one side and total scores on the other. After doing the calculation, one regressive formula was obtained using different statistical equations. All the results were analyzed by SPSS software.  Results: In age group of 30 to 34 years, 4 patients were their while 6 patients belonged to the age group of 40 to 44 years. Maximum number of patients belonged to the age group of 7 years. Conclusion: For age estimation, Gustafson's method with some proposed modification is a reliable method.

Keywords: Age, Identification, Rugae.