A radiomorphometric evaluation of age-related changes in mandibular morphology

Abstract

AIMS: The main aim of this study was to determine, compare and differentiate the morphologically related changes of the mandible in dentate males and females among different age groups on digital panoramic images and to assess their authenticity in age estimations to provide evidence in forensics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Digital panoramic images were made of 620 subjects, belonging to into four groups of ages ranging between 1218 years, 1940 years, 4160 years, and older than 60 years. Measurements such as gonial angle, condylar length, ramus length, cortical bone thickness, and ramal notch width were measured and evaluated. The data obtained was then subjected to descriptive statistical analysis followed by a Paired t-test and a Two-way ANOVA test to arrive at the results. RESULTS: On measuring an angular and four linear measurements a statistically significant differences were found among all the age groups with p 0.05 and also increased on aging except for the gonial angle. Among all the parameters, the gonial angle, ramus length, and ramal notch width depicted a statistically significant difference between the right and left sides and with p 0.05. CONCLUSION: Age estimation with linear and angular measurements of the mandible was possible among the study population. It is found that all parameters except gonial angle are reliable for age determination. It was found that as age increased, the mean value of all the parameters increased and showed a significant difference between all age groups except the gonial angle. Hence, this study positively recommends the use of all parameters except gonial angle for the purpose of age estimation in the field of forensics.