Secondary Dentin as an Aid in Gender Predilection: A Forensic Study

Abstract

Background Forensic odontology deals with age, sex, and race determination of the deceased at crime scenes, disasters, or natural calamities. Studies regarding the role of secondary dentin in age estimation have been documented on a several occasions in the literature but use of secondary dentin in gender predilection has not yet been documented. So, the present study was aimed at using the secondary dentin as a diagnostic tool in gender predilection. Materials and Methods The study included a total of 20 samples (10 males and 10 females). Extracted teeth were collected and placed in 10% neutral buffered formalin solution. The sections were ground on Arkansas stone until the appropriate thickness of the ground sections was achieved. The freshly prepared ground section was mounted on a slide using DPX mounting media. Ground sections were visualized under a microscope and the thickness of secondary dentine was measured using the image analysis software. Results The data were collected and subjected to group statistics. The secondary dentin thickness of all the samples, males and females, was measured. It was observed in our study that the mean thickness of secondary dentin was more in male samples (0.2970) with the standard deviation of 0.01494, as compared with that of females where the mean thickness was found to be 0.1970 with the standard deviation of 0.02058. Conclusion This study has shown that variation in secondary dentin thickness does exist between male and female groups. This criterion can be considered as an aid for gender determination in the future.