The results of present study proved that the mandibular ramus plays an important role in sex determination due to its unique high sexual dimorphism, so does the gonial angle, which is linear to studies done previously with a smaller sample size. [8, 9, 13] The mandible also possesses resistance to damage and disintegration process. Hence, we conclude that the use of mandibular ramus and gonial angle is recommended as an aid for gender determination in forensic anthropology.
BackgroundThe goal of this study is to use digital orthopantomographs (OPGs) to find out the role the mandibular ramus plays in figuring out a person's gender.
MethodologySix hundred digital OPGs of patients, aged 21 to 50 years of either gender, fulfilling the exclusion and inclusion criteria, were randomly selected from the department archives exclusively for this digital retrospective study. All the scans were anonymized before the analysis. A total of seven measurements (in mm) were performed on OPGs, namely, minimum and maximum widths of the ramus, minimum and maximum condylar heights, maximum height of the ramus and coronoid, gonial angle bilaterally, and bigonial width. The data obtained was statistically analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 21.0. (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA), by a stepwise discriminant functional analysis for gender determination.
ResultsLinear measurements, including maximum and minimum widths of the ramus, maximum height of the condyle, height of the ramus, and coronoid and bigonial width, revealed more values in males than in females. However, the gonial angle showed higher average values in females than in males. Moreover, all seven parameters showed statistically insignificant age-related changes.
ConclusionsThe mandibular ramus showed high sexual dimorphism, and its analysis on OPG can be a valuable aid in the determination of gender in the fields of forensic odontology and anthropology.
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