Tooth development standards for South Australia.

BACKGROUND Chronological age, as recorded by registration of birth date, is referred to throughout an individual's life. This information is relevant in medical and dental practice for evaluating developmental progress, for educational purposes, and in legal matters, particularly in the application of criminal law. The absence of birth date information raises particular concerns, and estimates of chronological age are often required. Standards of dental maturation may be used to estimate age, but they have been shown to be gender and population sensitive. METHODS The revised Demirjian' system of dental age estimation was applied to a sample of 615 South Australian children in order to assess its accuracy. RESULTS The results of our study have shown that the Demirjian system is of limited accuracy when used to estimate the age of South Australian children. CONCLUSIONS Generation of new standard curves, specific to the Australian population, is indicated.