Eruption pattern of permanent teeth in the age group of 5 to 15 years of Udupi District of Karnataka

Introduction: Establishment of identity in the living and the dead individual carries tremendous medico-legal significance. Estimation of the age of an individual is an important step in establishing the identity of an individual. Identification may be complete or incomplete. Comparative techniques like anthropometry and prints involving foot, hand, nail, ear, lip, palate and fingers, superimposition technique, dental data and DNA fingerprinting help to identify an individual. Materials and Methodology: Materials for the present study consisted of 1,000 students from various schools, in the age group of 5 to 15 years belonging to Udupi district. Examination of the oral cavity was carried out. The tooth was recognized based on the morphological features. The eruption pattern of each tooth was noted in a proforma. The proof of age of the subjects were obtained from the school documents and birth certificates. Results: The sequence of eruption pattern of permanent teeth was similar in boys and girls. The mean ages for eruption in boys for first molar were 6.85 years, followed by the central incisor at 8.14 years whereas in girls it was 6.94 years, and 7.86 years, respectively. All the maxillary permanent teeth in both genders erupted first in the left quadrant, followed by the right quadrant, except the second premolar (boys) and second molar (girls), which erupted first in the right quadrant. All the mandibular permanent teeth in both genders erupted first in the left quadrant, followed by the right quadrant.