"Estimation of age using dental radiographs is a justiiable procedure".

Age assessment is conducted following suspicions of false age claims due to lack of authentic birth documents resulting from inadequate birth registration practices. The need for age assessment has intensified in recent years due to the increase in the number of cross-border migrations and criminal activities. Dental maturity closely correlates with chronological age and this method has been proven to estimate age with reasonable accuracy. Radiographs serve as an excellent tool that allows visualization of calcified structures and hence assessment of age using radiographs is common practice. Recently, criticisms were raised against the use the radiographs for dental age estimation which has sparked widespread debate. The opponents claim that radiation exposure can be justified only based on clinical benefits. This report analyses the existing guidelines on radiation exposure to justify, on scientific and logical grounds, that radiographs can be used for dental age assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]