Sex determination in north Indians using mandibular canine index.

ABSTRACT

Teeth are an excellent material in living and non-living populations for anthropological, genetic, odontologic and forensic investigations. Amongst all teeth, the mandibular canines are found to exhibit greatest sexual dimorphism. Rao et al (1989) used the mandibular canine index for sex determination and found it to give satisfactory results. Muller et al (2001) concluded that Rao et al’s method can only be used in case of correct lower anterior dental alignment and by using the standard mandibular canine index of the local population. The present study endeavors to establish the effectiveness of mandibular canine index in predicting sex in North Indian population taking correct dental alignment into consideration. It was seen that with the standard mandibular canine index, it was possible to detect sex in North Indian population to an extent as high as 75%. This study establishes the existence of a statistically significant sexual dimorphism in the morphometry of mandibular canines in North Indian population.