Evaluation of Dental Age of Children With Cleft Lip and Palate Using Willems Method, Cameriere European Formula, and London Atlas

Dental age is widely evaluated by pedodontists, forensic dentists and orthodontists. While a delay in tooth development may be associated with growth retardation and learning difficulties, dental age determination can also be used for forensic age determination for children whose birth information is uncertain. A clear assessment of maturation in children with continued growth is important in establishing a dental treatment plan.

There are two basic approaches to dental age determination in children:

evaluation of eruption of teeth in the oral cavity, evaluation of the development and mineralization of crowns and roots on dental radiographs.

In many methods, the developmental stages of different numbers of permanent teeth are used.

The most commonly used method for determining dental age in children; is the Demirjian method that evaluates the development of seven left permanent mandibular teeth in eight stages (from A to H). Willems et al. In 2001, they modified the Demirjian method by conducting a study on the fact that it showed higher age determination in the Belgian Caucasian population. The adapted method was named the Willems method. It is stated that one of the advantages of this method is that it is a relatively simple system for determining tooth age.