DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i03.022

Pages: 987-990

The identification of human skeletal remains is considered to be initial step in forensic investigation. Investigations of jaws and teeth, the most well preserved parts of human body have been proven a basic and valuable method in human identification. In an individual life, bony alteration takes place in the jaw bones which are thought to be influenced by the dental status and age of the patient. Dental radiographs are certainly one of the most desirable pieces of ante mortem evidence because of their highly objective nature as compared with other records. The present study aims to measure, compare and evaluate various radiological landmarks as observed in lateral cephalogram and orthopantomogram (OPG) and to assess their usefulness in age estimation and also to verify whether the detected age predicting skeletal variable(Ceph Markers) and related registration system for third molar development on OPG resulted in any improvement in age estimation. Age estimation by OPG was done using Demirjians Method and by Lateral Cephalogram using Rai et al. (RA) method was used for which 60 digital OPG and 60 digital lateral cephalograms of patients aged between 10 to 25yrs of which 21 males and 39 females were examined. Data was subjected to regression analysis. Thus in conclusion it can be said that by comparing lateral cephalometric and OPG parameters we found that lateral cephalometric parameters are more reliable for age estimation as compared to OPG and the derived formulas were matching nearly accurately with the known age of the subject.