Evaluation of age-related changes with cross-sectional CT imaging of teeth

Tooth pulp atrophy occurs with increasing age. An age estimation procedure using dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging was developed. Clinical dental CBCT images of 60 patients (aged from 20 to 80 years) were evaluated. The ratio of the cross-sectional area of the pulp cavity to the cross-sectional area of the tooth (pulp cavity ratio) was calculated. The pulp cavity ratio in the labio-lingual plane of the mandibular anterior teeth and the mesio-distal plane of the maxillary anterior teeth was strongly correlated with the patients’ age. The pulp cavity ratio of anterior teeth may be a useful parameter for estimating age.