Applicability of the mandibular canine index for sex estimation: a systematic review

Abstract

Background The Mandibular Canine Index (MCI) comprises a method of sex estimation by teeth that presents controversial results in the literature. Main body This systematic review aims to expose whether MCI can be used as a method of reliable sex estimation. A literature search was performed using the keywords “canine,” “sex,” “gender,” “determination,” “estimation,” “dimorphism,” “assessment,” “forensic” in the databases Pubmed, Scopus, Lilacs, Scielo, and Web of Science. In addition, manual searches were carried out on the reference lists of the selected articles to cover the largest number of articles of interest as possible. Studies that performed the measurements only on maxillary canines, scientific conferences abstract books, case reports and literature reviews were excluded. The assessment of methodological quality and risk of bias was carried out based on a checklist for cross-sectional studies and another for accuracy studies. Thus, 53 articles were selected, 13 of which were accurate and 40 were cross-sectional. All accuracy articles were assessed as low risk. Among cross-sectional articles, seven were considered to be of low risk, 31 of moderate risk, and two of high risk. The accuracy of the sex estimate by MCI was verified and, despite varying among studies, the minimum and maximum values found were, respectively, 20% and 87.5% for women and 40.6% and 94% for men. Conclusion The accuracy of the MCI was variable and should be used with caution and as an auxiliary method of sex estimation.

Forensic Dentistry as an Analysis Tool for Sex Estimation: A Review of Current Techniques

“…Both systematic reviews were in agreement that canine still showed a high degree of sexual dimorphism, 44,45 which could point to weaknesses inherent in the methodology or calculations of results of the MCI method, leading to controversies in its accuracy. Perhaps future studies can analyse variations of the MCI method to improve upon its accuracy for sex estimation, 46 given that the canine has been consistently shown to be one of the most sexually dimorphic teeth in the dentition.…”

Diagnostic performance of convolutional neural networks for dental sexual dimorphism

“…Normally, all the permanent teeth will have fully developed crowns around this age 8 . The roots, if not developed, will present a late stage of formation 16 . In each age group (< 15 years vs. ≥ 15 years) a single problem was established: sexual dimorphism, and a binary outcome was expected regarding sex (male vs. female), and age (< 15 years vs. ≥ 15 years).…”

“…The most common techniques debated in the current scientific literature fall within the group of metric analyses, in which linear measurements (mesiodistal width and intercanine distance) and volumetric assessments can be performed ex-vivo or through 2D (radiographic/photographic) 3D (tomographic scan) imaging 16 . In this context, examiner reproducibility is a drawback since millimetric measurements and volumetric analyses require extensive calibration and training.…”

Gender Determination in Pakhtun Pakistani Population Using Dental Arch Dimensions: A Digital Model Study

“…They found a high accuracy of gender determination for South Indian population. However, other researchers Narang et al (7) and Rocha et al (8) found diverse accuracy as low as 20% to as high as 94% when this index was applied to several Dental arch dimensions and shape is unique in different human ethnic groups (9). For instance, Caucasians have smaller inter-canine width and inter-molar width than Japanese.…”