Exfoliative cytology: A possible tool in age estimation in forensic odontology

INTRODUCTION: Age determination of unknown human bodies is important in the setting of a crime investigation or a mass disaster because the age at death, birth date, and year of death as well as gender can guide investigators to the correct identity among a large number of possible matches. OBJECTIVE: The study was undertaken with an aim to estimate the age of an individual from their buccal smears by comparing the average cell size using image analysis morphometric software. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Buccal smears were collected from 100 apparently healthy individuals. After fixation in 95% alcohol, the smears were stained using standard Papanicolaou laboratory procedure. The average cell size was measured using Dewinter's image analysis software version 4.3. Statistical analysis of the data was done using one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni procedures. RESULTS: The results showed significant decrease in average cell size of individual with increase in age. The difference was highly significant in age group of above 60 years. CONCLUSION: Age-related alterations are observed in buccal smears.