Assessment of Effect of Age, Gender, and Dentoalveolar Changes on Mandibular Morphology: A Digital Panoramic Study

INTRODUCTION: With progressive development in the growth and function of the jaws, changes are observed in size as well as shape of the mandible, which vary on the basis of age, gender, and dental status. The objective of this study was to evaluate and assess the morphological changes of the mandible, with varying age, gender, and dental status, using panoramic radiographs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted using digital panoramic radiographs taken by Kodak 8000c digital panoramic and cephalometric system on 150 patients, comprising fifty edentulous individuals (above 50 years of age), fifty old dentate individuals (above 50 years of age), and fifty young dentate individuals (below 25 years of age). All the mandibular measurements (gonial angle, ramus length, condylar length (CL), ramus notch depth, and cortical bone thickness) were carried out using RadiAnt DICOM VIEWER 2.2.9 (32-bit) software. The measurements were then subjected to paired t-test, Tukey's multiple post hoc procedures, and multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics for all the parameters on the right and left sides of the mandible in both males and females were analyzed. A statistical significance of P < 0.05 was observed for all the variables except one variable (CL). CONCLUSION: In the present study, all the variables showed increased measurements in males except gonial angle, which was found to be wider in females, indicating that women tend to get affected by varying dental statuses than men. Hence, the parameters used in this study may act as good indicators for the assessment of the effect of age, gender, and dental status on mandibular morphology.