title: Effects of nutrition on timing of mineralization in teeth in a Peruvian sample by the Cameriere and Demirjian methods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have been conducted among children to investigate the effects of malnutrition and race on the timing of tooth formation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study investigated whether there is a significant association between nutritional status, gender, and the process of tooth mineralization.
  
  
  METHODS
  Orthopantomograms of 287 Peruvian schoolchildren, aged 9.5-16.5 years, were evaluated. For each individual, we considered the number of the seven right permanent mandibular teeth, with completely closed apical ends of roots (N0), sum of normalized open apices (S), and the Demirjian score (Ds). We also estimated individual age by the Cameriere and Demirjian methods, and assessed their accuracy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For each age class, the distributions of N0, S and Ds in the two sub-populations of Peruvian children, undernourished and well nourished, were not statistically significant. The mean error (ME) in age estimation was 0.75 and 1.31 years for the Cameriere and Demirjian methods, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nutrition did not seem to affect the process of tooth growth. As regards the accuracy of age estimation, the Cameriere method yielded more accurate estimates than the Demirjian method.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Macerata, Via Don Minzoni, Macerata, Italy. r.cameriere@unimc.it
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cameriere
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Flores-Mir
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mauricio
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrante
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000378:metabolism; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D009805:Odontogenesis; D010568:Peru; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014070:Tooth / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000254:growth & development*; D014074:Tooth Calcification