Volume 56, Issue 5 pp. 1302-1309
TECHNICAL NOTE
ODONTOLOGY; ANTHROPOLOGY

Age-at-Death Estimation by Pulp/Tooth Area Ratio in Canines: Study of a 20th-Century Mexican Sample of Prisoners to Test Cameriere’s Method

Stefano De Luca M.Sc.

Stefano De Luca M.Sc.

Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.

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Josefina Bautista Ph.D.

Josefina Bautista Ph.D.

Department of Physical Anthropology, INAH, Mexico City, Mexico.

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Inmaculada Alemán Ph.D.

Inmaculada Alemán Ph.D.

Laboratory of Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.

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Roberto Cameriere Ph.D.

Roberto Cameriere Ph.D.

AgEstimation Project, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy.

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First published: 15 April 2011
Citations: 23
Additional information and reprint requests:
Stefano De Luca, M.Sc.
Laboratory of Anthropology
Faculty of Medicine
University of Granada
Avenida de Madrid, 11
18012 Granada
Spain
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Abstract: Accurate age estimation has always been a problem for forensic scientists, and apposition of secondary dentine is often used as an indicator of age. Cameriere et al. studied the pulp/tooth area ratio by peri-apical X-ray images of the canines, to observe the apposition of secondary dentine. The present study examines the application of this technique in a Mexican identified sample coming from the Department of Physical Anthropology of the INAH, at Mexico City. The main aim of this work is to test the reliability of this method in a skeletal sample of a specific population, different from the samples used for its development. The obtained regression model explained 96.2% of total variance (R2 = 0.962) with a standard error of estimate of 1.909 and a standard deviation of 1.947. These results demonstrate great reliability and that the age/secondary dentine relationship is not variable in this specific population.

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