Comparative Evaluation of Demirjian and Willems Methods for Dental Age Estimation in 7‐ to 12‐Year‐Old Children: A Cross‐Sectional Study

OBJECTIVE: Dental age estimation is vital in clinical and forensic dentistry. This study compared the accuracy of the Willems and Demirjian methods in estimating dental age among children aged 7-12 years in Alborz Province, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional analytical study, 50 panoramic radiographs from 32 girls and 18 boys aged 7-12 years were analyzed. Chronological age was calculated using birth and radiograph dates. Dental age was estimated using the Willems and Demirjian methods. Statistical analysis, including paired t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation, was conducted using SPSS version 25. RESULTS: The Willems method overestimated age by an average of 0.09 years (0.16 for boys, 0.05 for girls), while the Demirjian method overestimated by 0.44 years (0.26 for boys, 0.55 for girls). The smallest discrepancy was observed in boys aged 9-10 years (0.067 years), and the largest in girls aged 11-12 years (1.2 years). However, this finding should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size in this age group (n = 7). CONCLUSION: Both methods showed a strong correlation with chronological age. The Willems method tended to produce estimates closer to chronological age than the Demirjian method in this sample. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the relatively small sample size in several age groups.