Mean Nasal Index of Dental Students of a Dental College in Nepal

INTRODUCTION: Human nose is one of the important anthropometric parameters for identification of sex and ethnicity of an individual of an unknown identity. The nasal index holds a great value in anthropological studies, because it is one of the anthropometric indices acknowledged in nasal surgery as well as management. The study aims to find the mean nasal index and the nose type of dental students of Kantipur Dental College of Nepal. METHODS: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 140 dental students in the Department of Anatomy, Kantipur Dental College Teaching Hospital and Research Center, Basundhara, Kathmandu. The study population belongs to dental students of Kantipur Dental College and Research Center. The nasal parameters include nasal height, nasal width which was measured using Digital Vernier Caliper and the nose was classified in three different types based on the value of nasal index. RESULTS: The mean nasal index of total population was 81.34±14.88 mmwith confidence interval range of 78.85 and 83.83 mm. Mesorrhine type of nose was found to be most common among the total population. Mean nasal index in male is 84.49±12.46 mm and in female is 80.66±15.32 mm. CONCLUSIONS: This study concludes that the mean values of nasal index of the students fall under mesorrhine type of nose.