Radiological assessment of the mineralization stage of third molars is a major criterion for age estimation of living people involved in criminal proceedings. To date insufficient knowledge has been obtained about how the ethnic origin can influence tooth mineralization. A comparative study of wisdom tooth mineralization was carried out on three population samples: one German, one Japanese and one South African. To this end, 3,652 conventional orthopantomograms were evaluated on the basis of Demirjian's stages. The Japanese subjects were on average 1-2 years older than their German counterparts upon reaching stages D-F, whereas the South African subjects were on average 1-2 years younger than the Germans when displaying stages D-G. To enhance the accuracy of forensic age estimates based on wisdom tooth mineralization we recommend the use of population-specific standards.