title: Northern Chinese dental ages estimated from southern Chinese reference datasets closely correlate with chronological age.
abstract: While northern and southern Chinese are genetically correlated, there exists notable environmental differences in their living conditions. This study aimed to evaluate validity of the southern Chinese reference dataset for dental age estimation applied to northern Chinese. Dental panoramic tomographs of 437 northern Chinese aged 3 to 21 years were analysed. All the left maxillary and mandibular permanent teeth plus the 2 third molars on the right side were scored based on Demirjian's classification of tooth development stages. Mean and standard error of dental age were obtained for each tooth development stage, followed by random effect meta-analysis for mean dental age estimation. Validity of the method was examined through measures of agreement (95% limits of agreement, standard error of measurement, and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient) and measure of reliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient). On average, the estimated dental age overestimated chronological age by only around 1 month in both females and males. The Intraclass correlation coefficient values were 0.99 for both sexes, suggesting excellent reliability of the method. Reference dataset for dental age estimation developed on the basis of southern Chinese was applicable for use among the northern Chinese.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Hai Ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Yi Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jayakumar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jayaraman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Western Australia, Oral Health Centre of WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Nigel Martyn
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Dentistry, King's College London Dental Institute, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Graham J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Roberts
keywords: Anatomy; Dentistry; Evidence-based medicine; Medical imaging; Pediatrics