Background: Few studies have been conducted among children to investigate the effects of malnutrition and race on the timing of tooth formation. Aim: The study investigated whether there is a significant association between nutritional status, gender, and the process of tooth mineralization. Subjects and methods: Orthopantomograms of 287 Peruvian schoolchildren, aged 9.5-16.5 years, were evaluated. For each individual, we considered the number of the seven right permanent mandibular teeth, with completely closed apical ends of roots (N0), sum of normalized open apices (S), and the Demirjian score (Ds). We also estimated individual age by the Cameriere and Demirjian methods, and assessed their accuracy. Results: For each age class, the distributions of N0, S and Ds in the two sub-populations of Peruvian children, undernourished and well nourished, were not statistically significant. The mean error (ME) in age estimation was 0.75 and 1.31 years for the Cameriere and Demirjian methods, respectively. Conclusions: Nutrition did not seem to affect the process of tooth growth. As regards the accuracy of age estimation, the Cameriere method yielded more accurate estimates than the Demirjian method. © 2007 Informa UK Ltd.