• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.977-983
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• 2023

Due to the development of the domestic economy and science, the people's standard of living has increased. Accordingly, we want to improve the quality of life. In other words, we guarantee human rights and pursue dignity and value as human beings. Therefore, the medical field extends human life and helps maintain a healthy life. The social medicine that protects human rights is forensic medicine. Forensic medicine identifies deaths and analyzes the cause using forensic radiology images. Forensic radiology is the acquisition and provision of medical images by the radiographer. Therefore, the radiographer must have expertise by completing forensic science-related courses. Recently, medical and nursing schools have opened and operated various subjects such as forensic medicine and forensic nursing. However, the Department of Radiology science is the only school that offers courses related to forensic science. For the future development and exploration of the radiographer and department of radiology science, forensic education should be considered. For this purpose, we investigated the necessity and demand for forensic education in the department of radiology science undergraduate and graduate schools. The department of radiology science students' awareness of forensic science was found to be 2.977 points, but the need for forensic science education for the radiographer was high at 3.759 points. In addition, current students' demand for forensic science courses was high at 84.1%, with the majority responding that it was necessary to open and operate the course. This study was able to determine the demand for forensic science-related subjects among the department of radiology science undergraduate and graduate students, and there is a need to explore diversity and expertise in education. We hope that it will be used as basic data for the development of forensic medicine and radiology science.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.181-182
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• 2020

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.297-297
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• 2016

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.125-130
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• 2021

Purpose: The dental age estimation of children is performed using dental maturity. Postmortem missing of the anterior teeth or the distortion of image of the anterior teeth in panoramic radiographs can make it difficult to analyze the development of the anterior teeth. This pilot study was conducted to derive a new age estimation method based only on the developmental stage of mandibular posterior teeth. Methods: This study was conducted using panoramic radiographs of 650 subjects aged 3 to 15 years old. The dental developmental stages of the lower left first premolar, second premolar, first molar and second molar were evaluated according to the Demirjian's criteria. The intra-/inter-observer reliability was evaluated, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed including the developmental stage of each tooth as an independent variable. Results: The intra-/inter-observer reliability was 0.9626 and 0.8877, respectively, and showed very high reproducibility. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed for males and females, and the age calculation table was derived by obtaining the intercept and the coefficient according to the development stage of each tooth. The coefficient of determination (r²) of the age calculation method was 0.9634 for male and 0.9570 for female subjects, and the mean difference between chronological age and estimated dental age was -0.42 and -0.21, respectively. Conclusions: This pilot study evaluated the developmental stages of four lower posterior teeth in the Korean group according to Demirjian's criteria, and derived age estimation method. The accuracy was lower than when more teeth were used, but it will be useful to estimate age of children when the anterior teeth are difficult to accurately analyze.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 2022

Purpose: This study assessed the associations between chronological age, dental maturation (DM), cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM), and hand-wrist maturation (HWM) in individuals aged 9-19 years. In addition, this study aimed to derive practical methods to evaluate the skeletal age using DM, CVM, or HWM for orthodontic, medical, and forensic purposes and to compare which of these 3 developmental parameters is more accurate for estimating the age of individuals in a Turkish population. Materials and Methods: Panoramic, lateral cephalometric, and hand-wrist radiographs of 284 patients aged 9-19 years were used in this study. The DM, CVM, and HWM stages were determined. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov, kappa, Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis, chi-square, and Spearman correlation tests and simple linear regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. The significance level was 0.05. Results: Statistically significant differences were found between chronological age and DM, chronological age and CVM, and chronological age and HWM in both sexes (P<0.05). DM did not show statistically significant differences according to sex (P>0.05), but CVM and HWM were statistically different between males and females (P<0.05). The DM-estimated age yielded more accurate values than the other methods. Conclusion: All correlations between skeletal and dental stages were statistically significant. Our results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between chronological age and DM-estimated age. Therefore, it can be concluded that DM stages have the potential to be used for legal purposes.

• The Korean Journal of Legal Medicine
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.61-64
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• 2016

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV (EDS IV) is a hereditary disorder of the connective tissue, characterized by easy bruising, thin skin with visible veins, and spontaneous rupture of the large arteries, uterus, or bowel. EDS IV is caused by mutations of the gene for type III procollagen (COL3A1), resulting in insufficient collagen production or a defect in the structure of collagen. EDS IV can have fatal complications such as the rupture of great vessels or organs, which can cause hemorrhaging and sudden unexpected death. Here, we report a case of a 43-year-old female who collapsed after a struggle with a neighbor. In this patient, the bifurcation of the bilateral common iliac artery ruptured, with no evidence of trauma, inflammation, or atherosclerosis. Genetic analysis of COL3A1 showed the presence of a c.2771G>A (p.Gly924Arg) mutation, which may be associated with EDS IV. The forensic pathologist should consider the possibility that the spontaneous visceral or arterial rupture was caused by EDS IV. Genetic analysis is not currently a routine procedure during autopsy. However, in this case, we suggest that the patient possibly had an underlying EDS IV condition, and we recommended family members of the deceased to seek genetic analysis and counseling.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

Purpose: This study investigated the possible correlation between the mineralization of the second molars and the chronological age of a sample population of the state of Paraiba, Brazil. Materials and Methods: One thousand eight hundred fifty-four digitized panoramic images using a scanner of a private dental radiology service were obtained in six months. Of these, 457 were selected from patients aged 4.6 to 16 years who met certain criteria. The images were assessed twice by a radiologist with 5 years experience. A minimum interval of 30 days between the evaluations of the same patient was established. To analyze the relationship between chronological age, calcification level proposed by Demirjian et al in 1973, gender, and tooth, a multiple linear regression model was adjusted, taking age as the response variable (p<0.05). Results: The gender and calcification level were significantly correlated with the age of the patients (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between the average age of the patients' upper teeth compared to the lower ones in both genders (p<0.05). The dental development occurred earlier in female individuals than in male ones, and there was no significant difference between the right and left second permanent molars. Conclusion: It was observed that ethnic variables are related to certain parameters of age and sex identification in the Brazilian population, providing important information for forensic evaluations.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2019

Purpose: It has been proposed that using new prediction methods, such as neural networks based on dental data, could improve age estimation. This study aimed to assess the possibility of exploiting neural networks for estimating age by means of the pulp-to-tooth ratio in canines as a non-destructive, non-expensive, and accurate method. In addition, the predictive performance of neural networks was compared with that of a linear regression model. Materials and Methods: Three hundred subjects whose age ranged from 14 to 60 years and were well distributed among various age groups were included in the study. Two statistical software programs, SPSS 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and R, were used for statistical analyses. Results: The results indicated that the neural network model generally performed better than the regression model for estimation of age with pulp-to-tooth ratio data. The prediction errors of the developed neural network model were acceptable, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.40 years and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 4.12 years for the unseen dataset. The prediction errors of the regression model were higher than those of the neural network, with an RMSE of 10.26 years and a MAE of 8.17 years for the test dataset. Conclusion: The neural network method showed relatively acceptable performance, with an MAE of 4.12 years. The application of neural networks creates new opportunities to obtain more accurate estimations of age in forensic research.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2023

Purpose: This study was performed to develop a linear regression model using the pulp-to-tooth volume ratio (PTVR) ratio of the maxillary canine, assessed through cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, to predict chronological age (CA) in Indonesian adults. Materials and Methods: A sample of 99 maxillary canines was collected from patients between 20 and 49.99 years old. These samples were obtained from CBCT scans taken at the Universitas Padjadjaran Dental Hospital in Indonesia between 2018 and 2022. Pulp volume (PV) and tooth volume (TV) were measured using ITK-SNAP, while PTVR was calculated from the PV/TV ratio. Using RStudio, a linear regression was performed to predict CA using PTVR. Additionally, correlation and observer agreement were assessed. Results: The PTVR method demonstrated excellent reproducibility, and a significant correlation was found between the PTVR of the maxillary canine and CA(r= -0.74, P<0.01). The linear regression analysis showed an R² of 0.58, a root mean square error of 5.85, and a mean absolute error of 4.31. Conclusion: Linear regression using the PTVR can be effectively applied to predict CA in Indonesian adults between 20 and 49.99 years of age. As models of this type can be population-specific, recalibration for each population is encouraged. Additionally, future research should explore the use of other teeth, such as molars.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2024

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine the minimum number of teeth in the anterior dental arch that would yield accurate results for individual identification in forensic contexts. Materials and Methods: The study involved the analysis of 28 sets of 3-dimensional (3D) point cloud data, focused on the labial surface of the anterior teeth. These datasets were superimposed within each group in both genuine and imposter pairs. Group A incorporated data from the right to the left central incisor, group B from the right to the left lateral incisor, and group C from the right to the left canine. A comprehensive analysis was conducted, including the evaluation of root mean square error (RMSE) values and the distances resulting from the superimposition of dental arch segments. All analyses were conducted using CloudCompare version 2.12.4 (Telecom ParisTech and R&D, Kyiv, Ukraine). Results: The distances between genuine pairs in groups A, B, and C displayed an average range of 0.153 to 0.184mm. In contrast, distances for imposter pairs ranged from 0.338 to 0.522 mm. RMSE values for genuine pairs showed an average range of 0.166 to 0.177, whereas those for imposter pairs ranged from 0.424 to 0.638. A statistically significant difference was observed between the distances of genuine and imposter pairs(P<0.05). Conclusion: The exceptional performance observed for the labial surfaces of anterior teeth underscores their potential as a dependable criterion for accurate 3D dental identification. This was achieved by assessing a minimum of 4 teeth.