odontology
by Leif Kullman
Age estimation #2
Last month we discussed the possibility to use the stages of development of the teeth to estimate chronological age of a person with uncertain age. Particularly during adolescents this is rather problematic with a low precision in the estimation. However since 18 years is an important chronological legal age, forensic odontologists are often asked by the authorities to help in these matters. Here are some cases which the author has been involved in.
Sam is an immigrant and lives with his wife in a suburb to Stockholm. They have lived for some years in Sweden when they get a baby. The child is crying all the nights and Sam get tired of the circumstances at home and spends a lot of time with his mates. He also finds a new Swedish girl friend without any demands upon him. One day he talks with his girlfriend about how they should get rid of Sam’s wife. and they make a plan. Sam strangles his wife and set his apartment on fire. Fortunately a neighbour soon discovers the fire, but the child and itsmother are both dead. The police soon suspect Sam and there is a lot of evidence against him so he is condemned as guilty in court.
Having been condemned Sam put forward that he is not 18 years old. He had arrived a couple of years earlier to Sweden from South Europe and he had at that time an uncertain chronological age and social security number. Base upon what he and the Swedish authorities seamed reasonable, his age was then established to an age that today corresponded to 20 years.
We were asked by the police to estimate his chronological age based upon the teeth. Since he was more than 15 years we reckoned with that only third molar were developing, all the other teeth must be finished. A panoramic image of his jaws confirmed that all his permanent teeth were fully developed, indicating an age of at least 20 years. However if the biological range of the development of this tooth and the precision in this estimation were noticed, there was as most likely that he was between
17 and 23 years (with a 95 % probability). So it seemed beyond our capacity to oppose his latest statement about his age. However, in this case we were lucky. It showed that he had visited the Public Dental Service already three years before and that he already then had fully erupted third molars, which were decayed and had to be treated, and a filling was also made. This matter ruled out that he was younger than 18 years today, he was rather 23 to 24 years. Sam did not escape his imprisonment.
Another case was not so dramatic for the involved persons but of great importance for their future lives. A young man, living in Sweden since a couple of years, returned on a visit to his former native country to get a wife. His relatives had already found a suitable candidate upon his arrival and both of them also took a liking for each other. They went back to Sweden to marry, thereby also giving her an opportunity to get a residence permit in Sweden. But a problem arouse, the young bride was only 15 years according to her official papers. At that age you are not allowed to marry in Sweden. But the bride meant that this age was wrong and the young couple and their lawyer asked me to evaluate her age by means of her teeth. Her teeth were x-rayed and also her hand and wrist, which also can be used for age estimation during its development. However both these indicators pointed to a chronological age of 15 years and I could only report that with a probability level of 95 %, the girl was between 12 and 17 years. After that I had a lot of phone calls from them and I had a hard time to explain that I could not help them any more.
Next month is a celebration month for Forensic Odontology. It is this year one hundred years since the fire at the Basaar de la Charite´ in Paris happened. A lot of people were killed and dentists played an active role to identify the victims. This event is therefore by many seen as the birth of Forensic Odontology. I will therefore tell you a little more about the roots of our interesting subject next month.
Leif Kullman
