Pilot study to assess age-at-death by pulp/tooth area ratio method using tooth sections and radiographs on an archaeological skeletal sample with dental wear

In order to estimate age-at-death on an archaeological skeletal sample, this pilot study evaluates the effectiveness of the tooth sectioned technique to measure the exposed pulp chamber and tooth areas directly, comparing it with the use of the traditional radiographs, in order to apply the pulp/tooth area ratio (PTR) method. Age estimates produced by tooth cementum annulation (TCA) method are used to be measure against to PTR method. From an assemblage of 41 archaeological prehispanic individuals, three sets of teeth were chosen, teeth group one(TG1) consisted of 41 teeth with moderate dental wear, teeth group two(TG2) formed by 23 teeth with lesser dental wear and, 41 single rooted teeth for TCA. Tooth sections and radiographic images were taken for PTR method using the linear regression formulae developed by Cameriere et al. (2007, 2012, 2013) and Joseph et al. (2013). The results identify that the technique used to acquire the images to measure the pulp and tooth areas do not have an impact on the resultant estimated age by the PTR method, but the formulae used do. The comparison between TCA and PTR based on radiographs yielded the smallest differences. The effect of dental wear on the age estimates by PTR were not clear but the comparison between the different grades of dental wear within one same individual did not go beyond the 10 years, which indicates that future research is advisable.

Automated summary

This pilot study evaluates the effectiveness of tooth sectioned technique and traditional radiographs in estimating age-at-death on an archaeological skeletal sample. The results suggest that the technique used to acquire the images does not impact the estimated age by the pulp/tooth area ratio (PTR) method, but the formulae used do. Further research is advisable to clarify the effect of dental wear on PTR age estimates.