Applicability of determinati on of gender from odontometric measurements of canine teeth in a sample of adult Egyptian population

Abstract EN

Gender determination of skeletal remains is a part of many medico-legal as well as anthropological examinations.

Many anatomical structures have been studied, but the teeth and their measurements seem to be the most reliable method since teeth represent the most durable and resilient part of the skeleton.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy of a method with which gender can be differentiated by odontometric analysis of canine teeth -either maxillary or mandibular- in a sample of adult Egyptian population.

This study was carried out on dental casts taken from 220 adult persons, of both sexes, with variable ages selected from the outpatient clinic of Faculty of Dentistry, Ain Shams University.

The following measurements of the canine teeth were taken: mesio-distal and labio-lingual diameters of the crown and inter-canine distance.

From these measurements the following dental indices were calculated: canine index, crown index, crown area, crown module.

In addition, the percentage of sexual dimorphism was calculated.

RESULTS: There was sexual dimorphism in both mesio-distal and labio-lingual diameters of canine teeth (maxillary and mandibular).

The stepwise multi-regression analysis elicited formulae for determination of gender from maxillary and mandibular canines with an accuracy 82.73% and 81.82% respectively.

It is inferred that the technique employing odontometric analysis of canine teeth can provide predictive equations useful for gender determination in a sample of Egyptian adult individuals.