Evaluation of radiographic visibility of root pulp in mandibular second molars with cone beam computed tomography images for age estimation

The aim of this thesis study is to estimate the chronological age and determine whether the individual is below or above the age of 18, using the root pulp visibility method on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of mandibular second molars in the Turkish subpopulation. The study included CBCT images of 1023 mandibular second molar teeth of 699 individuals aged between 15-75 years old and the evaluation was made using Olze's root pulp visibility method in four stages. Descriptive statistics of the stages and the relationship between the stages and the chronological age were assessed. Comparison between the stages and chronological age was made with the One-Way ANOVA model and the different stages were determined with the Post-Hoc Tukey test. The distribution of the stages according to the 18 years threshold was analyzed. Intra-observer reliability was evaluated with the Kappa test. The statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05. For both genders, a significant increase in the mean age was observed as the stage of both the right and left mandibular second molars increased. The mean ages of Stage 0, Stage 1, and Stage 2, for females and males, were found 27.21 and 28.93, 33.68 and 37.69, 40.9 and 44.88 years, respectively. While Stage 0 and Stage 1 were found both in individuals below and above the age of 18, Stage 2 and Stage 3 were not observed in individuals below 18 years of age. Different stages were observed between the right and left sides in 71 of 323 individuals who had undergone bilateral evaluation. Age estimation can be made on CBCT images of mandibular second molars using Olze's root pulp visibility method in the Turkish subpopulation. The results of this study are specific to the Turkish subpopulation. Further investigations with more samples in different populations, including homogenous gender, age, and stage distributions are required(needed) to support the results of this research.