Objective human tooth colour measurements as a means of determining chronologic age in vivo and ex vivo.
Colour is a subjective sensation and as such is difficult to use in a quantitative study. However a number of clinical studies on extracted teeth have shown a good correlation between tooth colour and age. The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of a specific spectrophotometer in determining tooth colour on extracted and non- extracted teeth and to look for a possible age relationship. There were two parts in this study. An ex vivo study concentrated on collected tooth material. Single rooted teeth were selected out of each of the 5- year-age groups (ages ranged from 15-89 years). Colour measurements were performed on the mesial and vestibular aspects of the roots as well on the mid-vestibular aspects of the enamel crown. An in vivo study concentrated on the use of this specific shade taking system in living patients (n=70). Statistical analysis of the results revealed regression formulas for both ex vivo and in vivo situations displaying adjusted R-squares between 0.48 and 0.56. It may be concluded that age related trends were found. Having its shortcomings, the shade taking system was found to perform well as a convenient adjunct to dental age estimation in both the living and the deceased.
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Medicine, School of Dentistry, Oral Pathology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Forensic Odontology, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
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N
Devos
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G
Willems
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R
Wood
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003116:Color; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000295:instrumentation; D003481:Cuspid / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007180:Incisor / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D019228:Tooth Crown / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014092:Tooth Root / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D055815:Young Adult