Validation and comparison of Blenkin Taylor Atlas and the London Atlas on an Australian population subset for dental age estimation.

Richard Huynh, Selwin G Samuel, Vennila Anand, Sobia Zafar, Sakher Al-Qahtani

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Article in International journal of legal medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Forensic dental age estimation in a Pakistani population: validation of Atlas methods and development of a population-specific reference model.BMC oral health · 2026
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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Richard HuynhSchool of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, 288 Herston Road, Herston, Brisbane, QLD, 4006, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1712-7190

Selwin G SamuelSchool of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, 288 Herston Road, Herston, Brisbane, QLD, 4006, Australia. selwin.samuel@uq.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1089-563X

Vennila AnandConsultant epidemiologist and freelance biostatistician, Vernon, CT, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-1151-8020

Sobia ZafarSchool of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, 288 Herston Road, Herston, Brisbane, QLD, 4006, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5551-8147

Sakher Al-QahtaniDepartment of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3328-5984

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesIndividual dental age estimation systems provide essential information in law and forensic sciences for the living and deceased. Considering the multi-ethnic population of Australia, it is important to compare the performance of the internationally recognized London Atlas against the Australian-developed Blenkin Taylor age estimation system.

methods218 anonymized digital panoramic radiographs of children aged 5-18 years old were reviewed and 200 met inclusion criteria. The qualified radiographs were subjected to both the London Atlas and Blenkin Taylor age estimation systems, and this was compared to the children's real ages.

resultsThe Blenkin Taylor method produced a statistically significant mean underestimation of 0.34 ± 1.44 years, while the London Atlas also produced a statistically significant mean underestimation of 0.96 ± 1.64 years.

conclusionBoth age estimation systems produced a significantly smaller difference between the estimated and chronological age for females compared to males. Both the London Atlas and Blenkin Taylor are appropriate to apply in an Australian paediatric population for the purposes of forensic age estimation.

Indexed as

Age Determination by TeethToothAdolescentAustraliaChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansMaleRadiography, PanoramicAustralian populationBlenkin Taylor AtlasDental age estimationLondon Atlas

Identifiers

PMID41532992

DOI10.1007/s00414-025-03701-0

PMCPMC13161000

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