Evaluation of intercanine arch width, intermolar arch width and the canine fossa width in the determination of gender of an individual between 18 and 35 years – An in vitro analytical retrospective study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to verify and assess the usefulness of intercanine arch width, intermolar arch width, and canine fossa width in maxilla and intercanine and intermolar width in mandible for gender determination in the adult population. In medicolegal cases, estimation of gender using the skeletal remains of victims is imperative. The identity of an individual can be verified by examination of teeth and surrounding tissues from skeletal remains. Measurements from teeth and skull can help a Forensic Odontologist to identify deceased victims by age, gender, or race. The association of skeletal remains with gender gains utmost importance in cases of mass fatality such as earthquakes, tsunami, accidents, cyclones, and floods. If an individual is not in a condition to be identified, then they can be identified from the dentition or remains of dentition during any natural or manmade calamities. The benefit of determining gender in mass calamities is that accurately determined gender confines the number of missing individuals to one-half of the population in the majority cases. Many studies pertaining to maxillary arch widths have been performed yet the literature regarding mandibular arch widths remains scarce. Furthermore, in the literature, very few studies have been carried out to correlate canine fossa width and gender of an individual. The study was carried out on a sample size of 120 study models, between 18 to and 35 years in department of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics and the samples had equal male and female distribution. A digital vernier caliper measured the intercanine arch width, intermolar arch width and canine fossa width and the parameters were measured by a single observer and statistical analysis was performed. Intercanine arch width in maxillary arch was 36.38 ± 3.08 mm and 33.44 ± 2.72 mm for males and females correspondingly with P < 0.001 which is statistically highly significant. Intermolar arch width in maxillary arch was 47.81 ± 3.02 mm and 45.2 ± 2.64 mm for males and females correspondingly with P < 0.001 which is statistically highly significant. Canine fossa width in maxillary arch was 43.42 ± 2.58 mm and 40.36 ± 2.32 mm for males and females correspondingly with P < 0.001 which is statistically highly significant. Intercanine arch width in mandibular arch was 27.43 ± 2.96 mm and 26.2 ± 1.97 mm for males and females correspondingly with P < 0.05 which is statistically significant. Intermolar arch width in mandibular arch was 41.88 ± 3.47 mm and 39.89 ± 2.48 mm for males and females correspondingly with P < 0.001 which is statistically highly significant. After employing the receiver operating curve, to figure out specificity and sensitivity of the parameters, high specificity of 97%, with the best sensitivity of 78% was recorded for the maxillary canine fossa width. The results show that in cases of mass calamities, maxillary canine fossa width will prove to be useful tool in gender determination accurately after analyzing the dental remains of young missing adults with multiple missing teeth. This will further aid the forensic odontologist to determine identity of the missing individual.