To evaluate which method is the most applicable for estimating estimate dental age in Brazilian children, Nolla or Demirjian. For this purpose, both methods were reviewed and the differences between them brought to light. A total of 403 healthy children between the ages of 7 and 13 years with satisfactory panoramic radiographs, similar socio-economic background and ethnic origin were included. Panoramic radiographs were examined by the Nolla and Demirjian methods. Dental age was calculated for both methods, and the differences between the dental age and the chronological age were compared with analysis of variance with post hoc Dunnett. The Nolla method showed no significant difference in relation to chronological age in the majority of age groups for boys and girls, except for 12-year-old boys (over-estimation of 1.00) and between 11- and 12-year-old girls (over-estimation of 0.51 and 0.59, respectively). An over-estimation of the dental age was observed by using the Demirjian method (for boys 0.89-1.84 and for girls 0.69-1.97) for all age groups. The Nolla method is suitable for Brazilian children when it comes to age estimate with care to growth spurt beginning (around 11 and 12 years). However, the Dermijian method should not be used, because it over-estimated the age in both sexes.