Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the accuracy and the reliability of four methods of dental age estimation (Demirjian, Willems I, Willems II, and Chaillet standards) in a French population. Orthopantomograms of 743 children aged between 4 and 15 years were used.
The Demirjian standards gave a consistent overestimation of dental age compared with chronological age (+0.45 and +0.46years for girls and boys, respectively). We found that three modified methods were more accurate for both sexes than Demirjian's method: the Willems I method appeared to be more suitable when the sex and ethnicity are both known (-0.09 and +0.14years for girls and boys, respectively); the Willems II method was more accurate for children of unknown sex (mean difference=0.00years), and the Chaillet method was found to be more accurate than the Demirjian method, but less accurate than the Willems I method (-0.59 and -0.18years for girls and boys, respectively).