Children and Adolescent Dental Age Estimation by the Willems and Al Qahtani Methods in Surabaya, Indonesia

Abstract

Objectives. Dental age estimation has been employed in a range of legal operations as well as catastrophe victim identification. Dental age estimation is regarded as an appropriate method for estimating a person’s age because there is a high association between age and teeth. This study aims to assess the suitability of the Al Qahtani and Willems dental age estimation approaches for the Indonesian children and adolescent population. Methods. A total of 150 panoramic radiographs of patients (75 boys and 75 girls, 6-17 years old) were obtained from the Department of Radiology, Airlangga University, Indonesia. One researcher analyzed estimated dental age (EDA) twice in a one-week time-lapse using the Willems and Al Qahtani methods. The statistical analysis of the present study was carried out using IBM® SPSS® Statistics version 25.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Results. The mean of this study’s chronological age (CA) was 11.60 ± 3.41. Using the Willems method, the mean difference between CA and EDA for boys and girls was -0.41 ± 0.90. The mean difference between CA and EDA for boys and girls is 0.33 ± 0.61 using the Al Qahtani method. Conclusions. According to the findings of this investigation, the dental age estimation method proposed by Al Qahtani and Willems can be applied to the population in Surabaya. However, a comprehensive study is required when using this method because the data revealed significant statistical disparities between the two methods.