FORENSIC AND INSURANCE ODONTOSTOMATOLOGY   

Minerva Medicolegale 1999 March;119(1): 35-42

Copyright © 1999 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

An unusual case of age ascertainment

Robetti I., Piscozzi P., Zanaboni E.

The authors report an unusual case of age ascertainment not undertaken to establish chargeableness or majority age in a penal context, bur rather to confirm the age stated solely for the purpose of obtaining personal documents for expatriation. Given that the subjects were 6 adolescents belonging to a special ethnic group, a uniformly precocious rate of tooth mineralization was found compared to the estimates made using the the staged method previously proposed by one of the authors. The case has been reported to underline the need for due attention and caution when ascertaining the presumed age of these individuals and in order to prompt further research involving the new ethnic groups now taking part in today's massive immigrations.