Age assessment in canine and premolar by cervical axial sections of cone-beam computed tomography

•Cervical zone was used for the first time to age assessment.•Pulp/dentin area ratio is a useful variable for assessing age.•More accuracy concerning age estimation in subjects under 44 years.

Age estimation in adults is a challenge in both anthropological and forensic situations compared to sub-adults age estimation. The present study explored, for the first time, the cervical zone of single rooted teeth. The deposition of secondary dentin is responsible for a decrease in the volume of the dental pulp cavity with aging, and therefore is often used as an age indicator. The current study aimed at estimating the chronological age among adults by measuring the pulp/dentin area ratio (physiological ratio) by axial sections at cervical region of maxillary canine and mandibular second premolar. The sample consisted of 120 cone beam CT images of 120 Tunisians whose age ranged from 22 to 67, from the database of a private clinic of radiology. The first axial section of chosen teeth without enamel was selected. Linear regression models were derived for canine, premolar and for all variables to predict the age. They indicated that dentin deposition on canine and premolar have almost the same correlation with age (r = −0.838 and −0.837 respectively). The residual standard errors (RSE), when these regression equations applied for the entire sample, were ranged between 8.27, 8.29 and 7.06 for canine, premolar and for all variables respectively.Tested for younger ages (from 22 to 44 years) the RSE decreased considerably and thus ranged between 4.32, 4.72 and 4.05.The outcomes of this study show that the physiological ratio is a useful variable for assessing age with a satisfying accuracy.