Abstract

Dr. Mohandas S.*

ABSTRACT

Wisdom teeth, also called adult’s third molars, are the four permanent third molar teeth, the most posterior of the three molars per quadrant. They are called so as they erupt during the adolescence, between 14 and 21 years of age.[1,2,3,4,5,6] This study describes the age of eruption and its relation with other socio-demographic details of the adolescents living in Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, South India. Background: - If the age of an adolescent, either an accused or a victim, in a criminal case is unsure or disputed, examination of the third molar, physical examination with or without radiological examination, will help to calculate the most probable age especially to decide whether he/she is a juvenile or an adult. Materials & Methods: - Eruption of Wisdom teeth in 706 adolescent students of Higher Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools from three places, one each from an urban, semi-urban, and rural area, between the ages 14 and 18 was studied by clinical examination. Results: - The most probable age of gingival emergence was 16 in the male and 15 in the female. Conclusion: - Wisdom teeth eruption is a reliable indicator for age determination among adolescents and young adults involved in medico-legal cases when recorded dates of birth are not available or disputed. The females showed one year precedence over the males.