title: Reliability in age determination by pulp/tooth ratio in upper canines in skeletal remains.
abstract: Estimation of age of skeletal remains is one of the most complex questions for anthropologists. The most common macroscopic methods are based on dental wear and histological evaluation of bone remodeling. These methods are often qualitative, require great technical expertise, and have proved inexact in the estimation of ages over 50 years. Certain dental methods investigate the apposition of secondary dentine, in the study of tooth cross-sections, and X-rays to study width, height, and pulp area. The primary author previously proposed a method of estimating the age of a living person based on the pulp/tooth ratio (PTR) method in the upper canines. The aim of the present study is to verify whether the PTR method can also be used to estimate the age at death of skeletal remains. This paper investigates the study of historical samples of known age as a means to validate the proposed method.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy. r.cameriere@unimc.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cameriere
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brogi
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mirtella
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vultaggio
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cingolani
authors.forename: Gino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fornaciari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D003481:Cuspid / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005553:Forensic Dentistry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009106:Mummies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results