European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

SEX ESTIMATION FROM ODONTOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF ANNANG ETHNIC GROUP OF NIGERIA

*Igbemi, Mathias Akama; Oghenemavwe, Ese Loveday and Ugwa, Okezie Chinedu

ABSTRACT

Establishing identity of an individual is a very important part of forensics and various methods have been used. The aim of this study was to estimate sex using odontometric parameters of the people of Annang ethnic group of Nigeria. 252 respondents (110 males and 142 females) from the ages of 15-30 were used for the study. Volunteers were meant to sit comfortably on a chair; using a good light source, a pair of divider was used to take measurement of the mesiodistal dimensions, crown height, buccolingual dimension of the incisors, canine and both premolars of the mandibular and maxillary teeth of the right side in addition to the maxillary intercanine width. Data was analyzed using Microsoft excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Student t test and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was used to determine sexual differences and generate model for sex determination. There was significant difference in male and female values at p<0.05 in the maxillary canine, maxillary central incisor and mandibular canine. 83% of samples were correctly classified as males and 83.03% as females using DFA. The canine was found to be the best predictor of sex with the crown height of maxillary canine (CH3) having the highest predictive value followed by the maxillary intercanine width(MAX ICW), the mesiodistal dimension of the mandibular lateral incisor(MD7), buccolingual dimension of mandibular premolar (BL9), buccolingual dimension of maxillary canine (BL3). It is concluded that the odontometric parameter are reliable method for sex estimation in forensic studies.

Keywords: Odontometric parameters, mesiodistal dimension, crown height, buccolingual dimension, maxillary intercanine width, forensics.