Assessing the accuracy of Cameriere method in estimating the dental age of 7 to 11 years old children based on panoramic radiography in Ahvaz

Different methods for estimating age based on tooth development have been introduced. In the Camerirere method, the width of the apex of the second permanent molar tooth on the left side of the mandible is measured. The aim of this study was to compare the mean chronological and dental age obtained by the Cameriere method.

In this cross-sectional analytic study, 240 panoramic radiographs of 120 girls and 120 boys aged 7 to 11 years old were examined. In the lower left quadrant of each radiography, the width of the open apex of the developing teeth and the length of these teeth, the number of closed apex teeth, the normalized number ( the result of dividing the width of the apex by the length of the tooth) and the sum of the normalized numbers were measured and calculated.   By Cameriere age estimation formula  age of each child was calculated  with values of these variables. Data were analyzed using dependent t-test and SPSS version 24.

The mean chronological age was 8.42 and their mean estimated age was 8.44 years. There is no significant difference between them(P= 0.616). The difference between the mean chronological and the estimated age in girls was -0.08  and in boys was 0.03 years, There is no significant difference between the means of chronological and estimated age in girls and boys (P= 0.162).

Cameriere method in estimating the age of the studied samples also in both gender, has a high accuracy.