Introduction:

Knowledge of dental development from its genesis to its appearance in the mouth is very useful for the dental clinical practice.

Objective:

To validate a training and development scheme for third molars.

Material and Methods:

An observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was carried out at “José Martí Pérez” Polyclinic from Santiago de Cuba in the period from May 2016 to February 2017. The universe consisted of 2 421 third molars, found in 618 panoramic radiographs of orthodontic patients 8 to 18 years of age. A training and development scheme was designed and validated by aspect, content and criteria.

Results:

According to the proposed scheme, the appearance of the crypt (stage I) at 9.0 years as a medium interval (stage I), as well as the onset of eruptive movements (stage IV) at 9.9 years, stand out to give way to the beginning of root formation at 10.3 (stage V). The content validity of the designed scheme was achieved by considering the opinion of 15 experts (6 dentists with Doctors of Science degree, and 9 second-degree specialists in Orthodontics), which was very good.

Conclusions:

It was possible to validate the training and development scheme for third molars, so a valid and reliable instrument, whose use and adequate application are justified in the research field, is available.

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