Cementum annulations and age determination
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Abstract
Background: Cementum is a hard tissue in the root, which is deposited around dentin in layers throughout life. Under the light microscope, root cementum is seen as alternate light and dark rings known as incremental lines of cementum. In paleontology and forensic medicine, the number of these incremental lines is used to derive the age at death of an individual. Objectives: The present study was undertaken to determine if any relation exists between incremental lines of cementum and age of the individual. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five teeth from patients of known ages and devoid of any pathology such as attrition or hypercementosis were selected for this study. Ground sections were prepared manually. Nineteen of them showed visible countable annulations, while six showed indistinct, invisible annulations and hence were excluded from the study. Half of the selected teeth were sectioned longitudinally and the remainder were cross-sectioned. The mid-root region was selected for counting the annulations. Cemental annulations were counted after taking a photograph and enlarging the mid-root area. Age was then determined by adding the eruption age of the tooth to the annulations counted. Results and Conclusions: It was observed that cemental annulations, when appreciated, can be used as a reliable guide to determine the age of the patient. The age thus determined varied by about 2−3 years from the actual age of the patient. The reliability of the method was found to be 94.73%. There was good interobserver agreement in counting annulations.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Avadhoot Avadhani, J Tupkari, Alefiya Khambaty, & Manisha Sardar. (2009). Cementum annulations and age determination. Journal of Forensic Dental Sciences, 1(2), 73–76. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-2948.60377
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