The ways in which cerebral palsy affects the growth and development of the human body and skeleton have been thoroughly documented in the scientific literature. Information on the effects of cerebral palsy on dental development, however, is scarce. The primary goal of this thesis is to determine the effects of cerebral palsy on dental development using a commonly practiced anthropological method of age estimation. The Moorrees, Fanning, and Hunt (1963a,b) method of age estimation is used in this study to estimate the ages of a sample of 51 children with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy from the University of Michigan Health System Hospital Dentistry Clinic. The sample is comprised of panoramic dental radiographs and periapical radiographs from 37 males and 14 females between the ages of 3 and 15. After the estimated ages were determined, they were compared with the known chronological ages using paired and independent t-tests to determine if a significant difference existed between the two. The results showed that the Moorrees et al. method of age estimation under-aged 75% of the sample of children with cerebral palsy by an average of 1.25 years. It was concluded that the dental development of the sample of children with cerebral palsy was delayed relative to the unaffected sample used in the Moorrees et al. study. As a result, it was also concluded that the Moorreess et al. method of age estimation is not recommended for use on individuals with cerebral palsy
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