Mandibular ramus: An indicator for sex determination - A digital radiographic study

BACKGROUND: The identification of skeletal remains is of paramount importance in medico-legal investigations. The skeletal components most often investigated for gender determination are the pelvis and skull, with the mandible being a practical element to analyze sexual dimorphism in the fragmented bones. Presence of a dense layer of compact bone makes it very durable and well preserved than many other bones. Mandibular ramus can be used to differentiate between sexes and it also expresses strong univariate sexual dimorphism. When skeleton sex determination is considered, metric analyses on the radiographs are often found to be of superior value owing to their objectivity, accuracy, and reproducibility. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: (1) To measure, compare, and evaluate the various measurements of mandibular ramus as observed on orthopantomographs. (2) To assess the usefulness of mandibular ramus as an aid in sex determination. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted using orthopantomographs of 50 males and 50 females, which were taken using Kodak 8000C Digital Panoramic and Cephalometric System (73 kVp, 12 mA, 13.9 s). Mandibular ramus measurements were carried out using Master View 3.0 software. The measurements of the mandibular ramus were subjected to discriminant function analysis. RESULTS: We observed each variable of the mandibular ramus to be a significant predictor in classifying a given sample (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study on mandibular ramus measurements using orthopantomograph shows strong evidence suggesting that the ramus can be used for gender determination for forensic analysis.