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Civil and criminal forensics utilize dental development to estimate age. The method of Nicodemo, Moraes, and Médici Filho (NMM) is a popular dental age estimation tool in South America; however, it lacks a scientific basis for applications in contemporary forensic practice. This research included the largest sample ever collected in Brazil for a similar purpose. The sample consisted of 3,271 panoramic radiographs of female (n = 1,634) and male (n = 1,637) individuals between six and 22.9 years old (mean 14.6 ± 4.9 years). The applied NMM method considered all maxillary and mandibular left permanent teeth (n = 16). The fit between the chronological age and estimated age intervals was assessed, and a correlation test with Lin's correlation coefficient was performed. The overall percentage of fit was 22.5%, without statistically significant differences based on sex (p > 0.05). The percentage of fit was greater in younger individuals, such as those aged 6-6.99 years (90%), and progressively decreased in older individuals, such as those aged 11-11.9 years (18.2%). After 12 years of age, the method could not provide correct classifications up to 25 years of age. Lin's correlation coefficient was predominantly low (ρ = 0.175; 0.367). NMM is considerably limited, and current forensic practice should not apply it to estimate dental age.

Age estimation methods through developmental atlases are simplified by image comparison using radiographs. Atlas-based methods have been utilized to create population-specific charts addressing population diversity. To tackle the absence of a dedicated atlas for the Brazilian population, the objective of the present study was to create a new atlas for dental development in Brazil based on the London Atlas chart. The new atlas (RP Atlas) is based on the median of tooth development, eruption, and resorption in individuals aged 5 to 23. The sample (567 individuals) was divided between females (n = 290) and males (n = 277). The RP Atlas was handcrafted, scanned, colored, and clustered in two atlases divided by sex. The development of a specific atlas for the Brazilian population has the potential to enhance the accuracy of age estimation in forensic scenarios, notably in a mixed country like Brazil. Further research is needed to assess the suitability of the newly developed atlas for the Brazilian population., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Among the living tetrapods, mammals present a unique tooth replacement pattern, diphyodonty. Therefore, studying the dentition of mammalian ancestors is relevant to a better understanding of how this remarkable feature evolved. However, little is known about the postcanine tooth replacement pattern among Triassic cynodonts. Here, we applied the nondestructive method of microcomputed tomography (microCT) to analyze the dentition of the enigmatic Upper Triassic sectorial-toothed cynodont Charruodon tetracuspidatus (MCP 3934 PV, holotype) from the Candelaria Sequence, Santa Maria Supersequence, Brazil. The microCT-scan data allowed visualization of the replacement dentition and roots of the functional teeth, which provided information to inform interpretations of the ontogenetic stage and taxonomy of the species. A combination of dental and mandibular traits, as well as the small size of the specimen MCP 3934 PV, suggest an early ontogenetic stage. Additionally, the specimen could potentially be an ontogenetically immature form of another taxon, or a yet unknown species of probainognathian cynodont. Therefore, Charruodon tetracuspidatus is here designated as a nomen dubium, given the challenges of maintaining the species as valid., (© 2023 American Association for Anatomy.)

To apply Demirjian's seven (1973, D 7 ) and four (1976, D 4 ) teeth methods in a sample of Brazilian children and compare their performances for age estimation. Panoramic radiographs of 1200 children (600 females and 600 males) were collected from Southeast Brazil. The children were equally distributed (n = 60 females and 60 males) between age intervals of 1 year between 6 and 15.9 (mean age = 10.9; standard deviation [SD]: 2.9) years. D 7 and D 4 dental age estimation methods were applied by two observers and were compared based on their error rates (error = estimated age-chronological age). Both methods overestimated the chronological age (p < 0.0001). D 7 led to overestimations of 0.71 (p < 0.0001) in females and 0.83 (p < 0.0001) in males, while the overestimations with D 4 were 0.14 (p = 0.0067) and 0.73 (p < 0.0001) for females and males, respectively. The mean age estimated by D7 was 11.7 (SD: 3.1) years, while for D4, it was 11.3 (SD: 3.3) years. Intra- and interobserver agreement was ≥ 0.98. D 4 optimized the performance of radiographic dental age estimation compared to D 7 . Improvements were reflected in the total sample and separately for female and male children from Southeast Brazil., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Polyphyodonty-multiple tooth generations-in Mesozoic birds has been confirmed since the nineteenth century. Their dental cycle had been assessed through sparse data from tooth roots revealed through broken jawbones and disattached teeth. However, detailed descriptions of their tooth cycling are lacking, and the specifics of their replacement patterns remain largely unknown. Here we present unprecedented µCT data from three enantiornithine specimens from the Upper Cretaceous of southeastern Brazil. The high resolution µCT data show an alternating dental replacement pattern in the premaxillae, consistent with the widespread pattern amongst extinct and extant reptiles. The dentary also reveals dental replacement at different stages. These results strongly suggest that an alternating pattern was typical of enantiornithine birds. µCT data show that new teeth start lingually within the alveoli, resorb roots of functional teeth and migrate labially into their pulp cavities at an early stage, similar to modern crocodilians. Our results imply that the control mechanism for tooth cycling is conserved during the transition between non-avian reptiles and birds. These first 3D reconstructions of enantiornithine dental replacement demonstrate that 3D data are essential to understand the evolution and deep homology of archosaurian tooth cycling., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of assessment of intraoral digital photography in the evaluation of dental restorations., Methods: Intraoral photographs of anterior and posterior restorations were classified based on FDI criteria according to the need for intervention: no intervention, repair and replacement. Evaluations were performed by an experienced expert in restorative dentistry (gold standard evaluator) and 3 trained dentists (consensus). The clinical inspection was the reference standard method. The prevalence of failures was explored. Cohen's kappa statistic was used. Validity was accessed by sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio and predictives values., Results: Higher prevalence of failed restorations intervention was identified by the intraoral photography (17.7%) in comparison to the clinical evaluation (14.1%). Moderate agreement in the diagnosis of total failures was shown between the methods for the gold standard evaluator (kappa = 0.51) and consensus of evaluators (kappa = 0.53). Gold standard evaluator and consensus showed substantial and moderate agreement for posterior restorations (kappa = 0.61; 0.59), and fair and moderate agreement for anterior restorations (kappa = 0.36; 0.43), respectively. The accuracy was 84.8% in the assessment by intraoral photographs. Sensitivity and specificity values of 87.5% and 89.3% were found., Conclusions: Under the limits of this study, the assessment of digital photography performed by intraoral camera is an indirect diagnostic method valid for the evaluation of dental restorations, mainly in posterior teeth. This method should be employed taking into account the higher detection of defects provided by the images, which are not always clinically relevant., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)