Sex assessment using odontometry and cranial anthropometry: evaluation in an Indian sample

Crania and teeth are considered to be useful adjuncts for sex assessment and in construction of a postmortem profile, however, there is very little information regarding the relationship between tooth and cranial size. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the extent of sexual dimorphism of teeth and cranial size in an adult Indian population and their potential in sex estimation using logistic regression analysis. The sample consisted of 200 subjects (96 males and 104 females; age range of 18–30 years) of Indian origin. Cranial anthropometric measurements i.e. maximum head length and head breadth were measured and cephalic index was calculated. Tooth size (maximum mesiodistal and buccolingual dimensions) was measured for all the permanent teeth of the right side of the maxillary and mandibular arches, except the third molars. To ascertain the usefulness of absolute measurements of crania and teeth and the combination of both these parameters in sex prediction, logistic regression analysis was done. The cranial anthropometric measurements gave a sex assessment accuracy ranging from 53.5 to 79.9%, with head length giving the best accuracy. The sex classification accuracy of the odontometric measurements ranged from 61.5 to 76%, with combination of maxillary and mandibular teeth giving better accuracy. The use of both these parameters together vastly improved the accuracy to 88.4%. This study demonstrates that cranial anthropometry along with odontometry could be used fordetermining the gender of adult Indians in a forensic context. Among all the parameters, head length gave a superior sex prediction alone (79.9%) as well as in combination with odontometry (88.4%).