Morphological and Metrical Mandibular Analysis for Gender Determination in Western Uttar Pradesh Population, India: A...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of morphological and metrical measurements of the mandible jointly for gender determination using digital orthopantomogram (s) (OPG) in the Western Uttar Pradesh population, India.

A total of 800 OPGs were randomly selected from age matched equal sample of males and females (n = 400 each) who reported to the outpatient department between 20 and 40 years of age. Radiographs meeting the selection criteria were assessed for the morphology of the coronoid process, condylar process, sigmoid notch, and flexure of the mandibular posterior ramus bilaterally. The same radiographs were analyzed for 18 mandibular morphometric measurements. All morphological and metric assessments were performed on digital OPGs using CS Imaging 7.0.3 dental software and ImageJ software.

The mean age of subjects was 39.82 years and 39.09 years for males and females, respectively. Among total OPGs, angled condylar and round coronoid morphology were noted maximum on both sides and genders, while round and sloping sigmoid notch morphology were seen maximum in males and females, respectively. Regarding posterior mandibular rami flexure morphology, 48% of male OPGs showed bilateral flexure at the level of the occlusal plane, while 58% of females had either straight or flexed at a different level from the occlusal plane. Morphometric measurements in both genders and sides showed that, except for the angle between the condyle and coronoid process, all other variables had a significant (P < 0.05) difference between the genders. Furthermore, condylar height, followed by bicondylar breadth noted as the best gender predictors based upon functional discriminant analysis.

Radiographic morphological features and morphometric measurements of the mandible together could act as an indispensable tool for gender determination in forensics.