Ramus & gonial angel measurement in sexual dimorphism - A digital panoramic study

Abstract

Age and sex must be determined for forensic practise and medico-legal objectives. The mandible, which is the most heterogeneous bone in the skull and is frequently found intact, may be a key component in sex assessment. In this regard, the availability of a large number of antemortem orthopantomograms may be very beneficial in researching and creating standards that are population-specific for precise sex and age determination. Determining the value of different mandibular ramus linear and gonial angle measures as sex and age markers on digital panoramic pictures was the goal of the current investigation. This retrospective study was conducted on 600 orthopantomogram of patients of both gender with age group of 18 to 50 years. The selected JPEG images of the digital OPG’s were converted to PDF format and exported to Adobe Acrobat Reader software on an HP Laptop for assessment of linear and angular measurements. The parameters employed in the current study were projective ramus height (PRH), condylar ramus height (CNNRH), coronoid ramus height (CRRH), upper ramus breadth (URB), lower ramus breadth (LRB), bigonial width (BW) and gonial angle (GA). The right PRH, CRRH, CNRH, URB, LRB and bigonial width were higher in males as compared to females similarly left PRH, CNRH, CRRH, URB were higher in males as compared to females with a statistically significant P value (0.001) It was concluded from the current study that various parameters, including the projective ramus height, minimum ramus breath, and coronoid ramus height, could be very helpful in determining gender.