title: Objective measurement of shade color in age estimation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Age estimation is an important subspecialty of forensic medicine. Dental hard tissues are highly resistant to degradation and putrefaction. Enamel is translucent and varies in color from light yellow to grey white. The color of the teeth has been reported to be affected by chronological age. Enamel color may also depend on environmental factors viz. diet, occupational habits, vitamin deficiencies, fluoride level in drinking water etc., It has been found that color changes in dentin vary from white to yellow. Studies have been done to measure the dentin color for age estimation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To find a correlation between the enamel color and chronological age and secondly to estimate the age of an individual from enamel color.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 300 patients visiting the outpatient department of oral medicine and radiology were selected. Out of those, 150 were men and 150 women. The patients were divided into V groups based on the age. A thorough case history was taken for all the patients. Maxillary Central and Lateral incisor was used for the estimation of shade. The enamel color was evaluated using a VITA classical shade guide.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were exported to an Excel spread sheet and statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS. Linear regression analysis was used to find correlations between age and enamel shade.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the group 1 and 2 i.e. from 15 to 36 years, the shades A 2 and B 2 (reddish hue) was found to be most common. While in the group 3 and 4, shades ranged from A 3 to B 3 (brownish to yellowish hue). In the patients above 59 years i.e. group 5 the enamel shade with greyish hue was found to be most common.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Age determination using enamel color can be tried in forensic cases in the identification of individuals with no birth records.
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics and Implantology, Himachal Dental College, Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sharad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vaidya
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Manav Rachna Dental College, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahuja
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Bhojia Dental College, Budd, Baddi, Dist. Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Puneet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bajaj
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Bhojia Dental College, Budd, Baddi, Dist. Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Charu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Bhojia Dental College, Budd, Baddi, Dist. Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sabarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, D. J. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Karan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rajpal
keywords: Age estimation; color; enamel; shade guide
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