Singh Raghvendra, Singh Heena, Aggarwal Nikhil, Sehgal Garima, Chandel Siddhartha, Kumar Navneet
Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, IND.
Anatomy, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, IND.
Cureus. 2025 Mar 13;17(3):e80515. doi: 10.7759/cureus.80515. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Introduction Identification is a fundamental aspect of forensic anthropology, which is crucial for legal investigations, archaeological research, and disaster victim identification. The skull and pelvis exhibit significant sexual dimorphism to aid sex determination. In cases where the intact skull is unavailable, the mandible, particularly the ramus, serves as a vital bone for sex determination due to its distinct morphological characteristics. Aim To determine sex from the mandibular ramus using orthopantomograms (OPGs) and to develop a population-specific discriminant function for sex determination in the Lucknow region. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2024 to November 2024 and involved OPGs of 100 adults (55 males and 45 females) aged 20-50 years, selected randomly from patients referred to the Department of Dental Sciences at Era's Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow. Measurements were done for the bigonial distance, projective ramus height, maximum ramus height, maximum anteroposterior diameter, and minimum anteroposterior diameter. Statistical analysis of data was done using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY), employing descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and discriminant functions to evaluate the significance and accuracy of the measurements in sex determination. Results Significant sexual dimorphism was observed in various mandibular measurements, particularly bigonial distance, projective heights of the right and left ramus, and maximum heights of the right and left ramus (p < 0.001). The discriminant function achieved an overall accuracy of 96% in sex determination, with an accuracy of 94.5% in males and 97.8% in females. Conclusion The mandibular ramus is an effective tool for sex determination, exhibiting significant sexual dimorphism. Discriminant function has been developed to provide a reliable method of sex determination with high accuracy. Bigonial distance and projective ramus height were identified as the most significant parameters for sex determination. These findings contribute to forensic anthropology by offering a population-specific method for sex determination using mandibular ramus measurements and further support forensic investigations.
引言
身份识别是法医人类学的一个基本方面，对法律调查、考古研究和灾难遇难者身份识别至关重要。头骨和骨盆表现出明显的性别二态性，有助于性别鉴定。在无法获得完整头骨的情况下，下颌骨，尤其是下颌支，由于其独特的形态特征，是性别鉴定的重要骨骼。
目的
利用曲面体层摄影（OPG）从下颌支确定性别，并为勒克瑙地区的性别鉴定开发特定人群的判别函数。
材料与方法
本横断面研究于2024年10月至2024年11月进行，纳入了100名年龄在20 - 50岁的成年人（55名男性和45名女性）的OPG，这些成年人是从转诊至勒克瑙埃拉医学院和医院牙科科学系的患者中随机选取的。测量了下颌角间距离、投影下颌支高度、最大下颌支高度、最大前后径和最小前后径。使用IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0版（IBM公司，纽约州阿蒙克）对数据进行统计分析，采用描述性统计、独立t检验和判别函数来评估测量在性别鉴定中的显著性和准确性。
结果
在各种下颌测量中观察到明显的性别二态性，尤其是下颌角间距离、左右下颌支的投影高度以及左右下颌支的最大高度（p < 0.001）。判别函数在性别鉴定中的总体准确率达到96%，男性准确率为94.5%，女性准确率为97.8%。
结论
下颌支是性别鉴定的有效工具，表现出明显的性别二态性。已开发出判别函数，以提供一种可靠且高精度的性别鉴定方法。下颌角间距离和投影下颌支高度被确定为性别鉴定的最重要参数。这些发现通过提供一种利用下颌支测量进行特定人群性别鉴定的方法，为法医人类学做出了贡献，并进一步支持了法医调查。
