THE VALIDITY OF BITEWING RADIOGRAPHS FOR THE DENTAL IDENTIFICATION OFCHILDREN

Visual comparison of antemortem and postmortem bitewing radiographs of children and adolescents were made by observers with a range of exper ience using an established protocol. There was no statistically signif icant difference between the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the test results between children (6-9 years) and adolescents (8-11 ye ars). The average sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the pooled results for children was marginally less than for adults, but the diff erence was not statistically significant.