title: Age estimation by amino acid racemization in human teeth.
abstract: When an unidentified body is found, it is essential to establish the personal identity of the body in addition to investigating the cause of death. Identification is one of the most important functions of forensic dentistry. Fingerprint, dental, and DNA analysis can be used to accurately identify a body. However, if no information is available for identification, age estimation can contribute to the resolution of a case. The authors have been using aspartic acid racemization rates in dentin (D-aspartic acid/L-aspartic acid: D/L Asp) as an index for age estimation and have obtained satisfactory results. We report five cases of age estimation using the racemization method. In all five cases, estimated ages were accurate within a range ±3 years. We conclude that the racemization method is a reliable and practical method for estimating age.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Oral Science, Kanagawa Dental College, 82 Inaoka-cho, Yokosuka, 238-8580 Kanagawa, Japan. ohtanisu@kdcnet.ac.jp
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohtani
authors.forename: Toshiharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D003804:Dentin / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D005553:Forensic Dentistry; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids