Morphometric Analysis of Mandible for Gender determination in adult patients: A Cone Beam Computed Tomography Study

Abstract

Context: Gender determination is an important component of personal identification. Aims: Assessment of gender using mandible with Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT). Settings and Design: This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted on dental outpatients in the department of Oral Medicine and Radiology. Methods and Material: 148 dental outpatients were selected and subjected to CBCT. Mandibular landmarks such as gonial angle, alveolar ridge to mental foramen distance, mental foramen to the inferior border of mandible distance, mandibular canal to the most anterior tangent point of buccal and lingual mandibular plate distance, mandibular canal border to the lowest tangent point on the inferior border of the mandible, coronoid height, bigonial breadth, minimal ramus breadth and ramus length were assessed on CBCT scan. Statistical Analysis Used: Data was represented as mean and Standard Deviation (SD). Parameters were compared between males and females using Kruskal-Wallis and Student’s independent T-test. A value below 0.05 represented significant results. Results: All parameters except gonial were significantly higher in males as compared to females angle (P< 0.05). The distance from the lowest point of the mandibular canal to the most posterior tangent point of the Mandibular Lingual Plate (MCLM) and bigonial breadth was higher in males than females but the difference was non-significant (P>0.05). The accuracy of CBCT was found to be 89.7% in males and 88.5% in females. Conclusions: Gender determination by morphometric analysis of the mandible using cone beam computed tomography is an effective method and provides higher accuracy as compared to two-dimensional conventional radiographs.