Forensic Gender Prediction by Using Mandibular Morphometric Indices: A Panoramic Radiograph Study.

Aim and objective This study aims to assess the accuracy of gender estimation using gonial and antegonial angles and determine the gender of the given samples using gonial and antegonial angles. Introduction An essential component of the human skull, the mandible, exhibits sexual dimorphism, making it a valuable tool in forensic and anthropological investigations for detecting sex. This procedure can be especially difficult in situations where there are large numbers of casualties, natural disasters, or widely dispersed remains. The mandible is an accurate indicator of age and sex because it responds to patterns of growth. Sex determination through the gonial angle and antegonial angle involves analyzing the angles formed by the lower jaw bone in individuals. Examining these angles contributed to remarkable accuracy. Materials and methods A total of 500 samples, 250 male and 250 female panoramic radiographs, were carefully chosen for the study. The chosen samples ranged in age from 20 to 30 years. Orthophantomograms were measured in Planmeca software (Planmeca Romexis®, Version 6.0, USA INC.) and the descriptive statistics (paired t-test) were performed in SPSS Statistics version 16.0 (SPSS Inc. Released 2007. SPSS for Windows, Version 16.0. Chicago, SPSS Inc.). Results Gonial angle for males obtained the highest value of 127.27±5.29, followed by females at 127.08±5.18. This was followed by the antegonial angle for males of 10.74±3.14, and the least value was obtained by females of 10.67±3.30. The p-value for the gonial angle showed no statistical significance for males or females (p=0.679). Antegonial angle showed statistical significance in both males (p=0.008) and females (p=0.001). Conclusion Among both the parameters considered, the antegonial angle showed significance in determining the gender of the given samples. Hence, to assess the accuracy of gender estimation, the antegonial angle can be used as a parameter.