Brief Report: Estimating the Dental Age of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2019-06, Vol.49 (6), p.2612-2617
• Main Authors: Limeres, Jacobo, Diz, Pedro, Abeleira, María Teresa, Outumuro, Mercedes, Fernández-Feijoo, Javier, Diniz-Freitas, Márcio, García-Caballero, Lucía
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Age Determination by Teeth; Age differences; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnostic imaging; Autistic children; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Brief Report; Child; Child and School Psychology; Child, Preschool; Children; Correlation; Dental Evaluation; Dental Health; Dentistry; Diagnosis; Diagnostic Tests; Female; Forensic science; Gender Differences; Health aspects; Humans; Male; Medicolegal aspects; Neurosciences; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychology; Public Health; Radiography; Radiography, Panoramic; Regression analysis; Teeth; Tooth
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-019-04007-y

Determining a patient’s dental age is essential from the dental standpoint but can also have connotations of a forensic, anthropological and medicolegal nature. In this study, we assessed the correspondence between dental age and chronological age in a group of 50 children with autism spectrum disorders, with a chronological age range of 3–17 years. The dental age was calculated using panoramic radiography images, applying linear regression models derived from the classical indices by Nolla and Demirjian. In 2 of every 3 boys, the dental age was ahead of the chronological age, and in almost 1 of every 3 cases, the difference was ≥ 12 months. In the girls, conversely, we found no significant differences between dental age and chronological age.