Validity of demirjian and nolla methods for dental age estimation for Northeastern Turkish children aged 5–16 years old

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the applicability of Demirjian and Nolla methods for northeastern Turkish population. MATERIAL AND METHOD A retrospective study was performed on panoramic radiographs of 673 subjects aged 5-15.9 years. The mean dental age (DA) according to the Demirjian and Nolla methods were compared to the mean chronological age (CA). RESULTS The mean CA of the study sample was 10.37±2.90 and 10.03±2.81 years for females and males, respectively. Using the Demirjian method, the mean estimated DA was 11.26±3.02 years for females and 10.87±2.96 years for males. For Nolla method, the mean estimated DA was 9.80±3.41 and 9.53±3.14 years for females and males, respectively. The mean differences between the CA and DA according to the Demirjian and Nolla methods were 0.86 and -0.54 years for total study sample. CONCLUSION Nolla method was found to be a more accurate method for estimating DA in northeastern Turkish population.