Interrelationship between dental age and chronological age in Somali children.
To compare dental age (DA) with chronological age (CA) in Somali and white Caucasian children, resident in Sheffield. Cross-sectional study. Paediatric dentistry clinic, Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield. Somali children under 16 years of age and age- and gender-matched white Caucasian subjects. Dental age was determined for each subject, using their existing panoramic radiographs. Comparisons of the difference between dental age and chronological age (DA-CA) were made for gender and ethnic group, using independent sample t tests at the 0.05 level of significance. The sample group comprised 162 subjects: 84 Somali and Caucasian boys (mean age 10.55 years) and 78 Somali and Caucasian girls (mean age 11.24 years). The mean difference between DA and CA was found to be 1.01 years for Somali boys, 0.19 years for Caucasian boys, 1.22 years for Somali girls, and 0.52 years for Caucasian girls. The difference between DA and CA was significantly greater in Somali subjects than in Caucasian children. A few Somali subjects showed a marked discrepancy between chronological age and dental age (range -1.75 to 5.42 years), which was most evident in 8- to 12-year-old children. Somali children are significantly more dentally advanced than their Caucasian peers. This finding highlights the need for population-specific dental development standards for accurate dental age assessment.