title: Accuracy of a cut-off value based on the third molar index: Validation in an Australian population.
abstract: According to Recommendation N°196 of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), the age at which a child reaches adulthood for the purposes of criminal law should be 18 years in all Australian jurisdictions. With specific reference to age at majority, the only tooth with development spanning adolescence (and thus the legally relevant 18 years of age) is the third molar, which limits the number of methods that can be applied from those available in the published literature. The aim of the present study is to test the accuracy of the third molar index (I3M=0.08), based on the correlation between chronological age and normalized measures of the open apices and height of the third mandibular molar, in order to assess the legal adult age of 18 years. Digital orthopantomographs of 143 living Australian subjects (72 boys and 71 girls) are analyzed. The results demonstrate that the sensitivity is 0.90 in boys and 0.90 in girls; associated specificity values are 0.85 and 0.87 respectively. We conclude that the cut-off value of I3M=0.08 is statistically robust and thus valid for forensic application in an Australian population.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Forensic Anatomy and Biological Sciences, School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia. Electronic address: daniel.franklin@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.affiliation: Centre for Forensic Anatomy and Biological Sciences, School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Shalmira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karkhanis
authors.affiliation: Centre for Forensic Anatomy and Biological Sciences, School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Ambika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flavel
authors.affiliation: LABANOF, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute di Medicina Legale e delle Assicurazioni, Università degli studi di Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Collini
authors.affiliation: Unidad Especial de Identificación Forense, Servicio Médico Legal, Santiago de Chile, Chile; AgEstimation Project, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: DeLuca
authors.affiliation: AgEstimation Project, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cameriere
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods*; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008964:Molar, Third / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age estimation; Forensic anthropology population data; Forensic science; Human identification; Third molar index