New NIJ-Funded Website Assists Forensic Practitioners Estimate Age of Unidentified Skeletal Remains of Infants and Teens Based on Dental Data
by Douglas Ankney
The new “Transitional Analysis Dental Age” (“TADA”) estimation tool – funded by the National Institute of Justice (“NIJ”) – is now available online to assist forensic analysts with estimating the age of unidentified skeletal remains of infants and teens. The age of the skeletal remains of “subadults” – defined as “individuals ranging in age from birth to about 20 years” –had previously proven difficult to determine.
But a team of researchers led by anthropologists Nicholas Herrmann (Texas State University) and Joseph Hefner (Michigan State University) “developed a statistical framework that enables more precise age estimations.” The team created an impressive reference sample (almost 12,000 dental radiographs at the time of this writing) of individuals from the U.S., Europe, and Africa. “The project examined the age-at-transition values of development for three baby and 10 permanent teeth in subadults. By focusing on specific teeth, the researchers created the most appropriate numerical parameters from which to most accurately estimate age.” The database that resulted from the research is the basis for the TADA.
According to the researchers, “[f]orensic investigators score teeth using a developmental code and then run an age analysis. The final estimation includes a maximum likelihood age estimate based on the tooth stage of each tooth present. It gives confidence levels of 90% or 95%, depending on the specific measurements.” It also meets the reliability test of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), for expert witness testimony.
Source: forensicmag.com
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