Validity of Demirjian and Willems methods for dental age estimation for Malaysian children aged 5-15 years old

Background: One of the most commonly used method for dental age assessment is the method reported by Demirjian and coworkers in 1973. It was later modified by Willems and coworkers whereby they "performed a weighted ANOVA" in order to adapt the scoring system. Aim: To evaluate the applicability of Demirjian and Willems methods for dental age estimation for Malaysian children and to correlate the accuracy of the findings with the chronology of tooth development of premolars and second molars. Materials and methods: A total of 991 dental panoramic radiographs of 5-15-year-old Malaysian children were included in the study. The mean Demirjian and Willems estimated ages were compared to the mean chronological age. Results: The mean chronological age of the sample was 10.1 +/- 2.8 and 9.9 +/- 3.0 years for males and females respectively. Using the Demirjian method, the mean estimated dental age was 10.8 +/- 2.9 years for males and 10.5 +/- 2.9 years for females. For Willems method, the mean estimated age was 10.3 +/- 2.8 years males and 10.0 +/- 3.0 years respectively. Conclusions: Willems method was more applicable for estimating dental age for Malaysian children. Overestimation in Demirjian method could be due to advanced development of second bicuspids and molars. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.