Linear Odontometric Analysis of Permanent Dentition as A Forensic Aid: A Retrospective Study.

INTRODUCTION: Sex determination in forensic anthropology is an essential step for medico-legal purposes and crucial for identification as the number of possible matches is reduced to 50%. Teeth are an excellent material for anthropological, genetic, odontological and forensic investigations as they are known to resist a variety of ante-mortem and post-mortem insults. Sexual dimorphism in tooth size and the accuracy of odontometric sex prediction is found to vary in different population and therefore it is necessary to determine specific population values in order to make identification possible. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the existence of sexual dimorphism in South Kerala population.

AIM: To evaluate and estimate the degree of odontometric sexual dimorphism in all permanent teeth except third molars and the variations in odontometric dimensions between the left and right side teeth of the maxillary and mandibular arches in male and female groups.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The MesioDistal (MD) and BuccoLingual (BL) measurements of 28 teeth were estimated from the preorthodontic casts of 132 subjects; male group (66 males) and female group (66 females) of age range 15-25 years using digital Verniers' Caliper. The data obtained were analysed using SPSS version 17 and the Students' t-test for two independent samples.

RESULTS: The MesioDistal (MD) and BuccoLingual (BL) parameters of all permanent teeth in the study group showed sexual dimorphism. Over 39% of the tooth variables showed reverse dimorphism. The comparison of mean values of MD and BL diameters of the maxillary and mandibular, right and left side teeth in male and female groups showed statistical significance in males whereas females show non-significant values in both MD and BL diameters.

CONCLUSION: The study showed a varied percentage of sexual dimorphism and variation in the mean values of MD and BL dimensions in males, but not in females between right and left side teeth of the maxillary and mandibular arches of the study population.