Brief Report: Estimating the Dental Age of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Expect many autistic boys to have older-looking teeth—always confirm dental age before scheduling invasive work.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at dental X-rays from 30 boys and 10 girls with autism.
They used the X-rays to work out each child's dental age.
Then they compared dental age to the child's real age to see if teeth were ahead or behind schedule.
What they found
Two out of every three boys had teeth that looked older than their real age.
One in three boys had teeth that looked a full year or more ahead.
Girls with autism showed no clear pattern—their teeth matched their age.
How this fits with other research
Wu et al. (2025) found the brain can also be either delayed or accelerated in autism.
Jacobo shows the same mixed picture, but only below the neck—boys' teeth race ahead while girls stay on track.
Chen et al. (2016) also saw age-linked oddities in autistic boys' brains, hinting that boys may show more uneven growth overall.
Nilchian et al. (2017) and Sharp et al. (2010) proved autistic kids can cooperate with dental care, so getting the needed X-rays is doable in clinic.
Why it matters
Before you refer an autistic boy for tooth removal or braces, ask the dentist to check his dental age on X-ray.
If his teeth look much older, he may not need the work yet, saving pain, cost, and trauma.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Determining a patient's dental age is essential from the dental standpoint but can also have connotations of a forensic, anthropological and medicolegal nature. In this study, we assessed the correspondence between dental age and chronological age in a group of 50 children with autism spectrum disorders, with a chronological age range of 3-17 years. The dental age was calculated using panoramic radiography images, applying linear regression models derived from the classical indices by Nolla and Demirjian. In 2 of every 3 boys, the dental age was ahead of the chronological age, and in almost 1 of every 3 cases, the difference was ≥ 12 months. In the girls, conversely, we found no significant differences between dental age and chronological age.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04007-y