About the Recent Chilean Immigration Phenomenon: A Scoping Review on Radiographic Methods for Dental Age Estimation in Children

Abstract

The objective of this review was to identify original studies describing radiographic methods for dental age estimation applied in Chilean children, considering that it is a country with a long history of natural disasters and it has shown an unprecedented increase in the number of migrants in recent years, with significant percentages of individuals under 18 years of age. A scoping review was carried out following the methodology for the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping reviews and PRISMA guidelines. A specific search strategy was implemented in PubMed/Medline database, with complementary use of the Google Scholar website searching for full articles in English and Spanish. Five documents responded to the search objective, of which only 3 were published in refereed journals. Two documents focused their study on the maturation of upper and lower third molars, one on the maturation of the second and lower third molars, and two documents on the maturation of the seven mandibular teeth according to classical methodologies. The scarce existing literature, the almost absence of validated methods for the Chilean population, as well as the reported mass immigration phenomenon make a new and profound scientific research approach necessary for the application of updated methods.