Assessment of Mandibular Metric Variations for Sex Identification in the Dakshina Kannada Population: A Retrospective CBCT Study

Aim: This study aimed to assess metric factors for determining the sex of an unidentified adult human mandible using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional retrospective study. A total of 160 full field of view (FOV) scans, which allowed for complete visualization of the temporomandibular joints, were selected from the archives of the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology from January 2024 to June 2024. Metrical parameters such as bigonial breadth, bicondylar breadth, ramus width, mandibular length, coronoid height, and condylar height were measured using CBCT. Data were analyzed via SPSS 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Armonk, New York, United States). An independent test was performed to compare mandibular measurements between the sexes. Discriminant function analysis was performed to classify sex based on mandibular measurements. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 160 scans were included in the study from patients older than 16 years. Independent t-tests were conducted to compare various mandibular measurements between the sexes. The results revealed that males had significantly greater bicondylar width and bigonial width, and these differences were statistically significant. In terms of ramus width, the average width was greater in females. A comparison of the mandibular length on either side revealed that the males had a longer mandibular length. The discriminant function effectively differentiates between males and females based on the selected mandibular measurements, although the classification accuracy is slightly better for females than for males. Conclusion: Metric analysis of the mandible using CBCT images can indeed serve as a valuable tool in the identification of sex. The advantage of CBCT would be the ability to accurately mark the landmarks, leading to less subjectivity in anthropometric measurements. Clinical significance: The findings of this study emphasize the valuable role of CBCT in forensic and clinical applications related to human identification.