Article

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Background: Teeth are an excellent material in living and non-living populations for anthropological, genetic, odontologic and forensic investigations. Based on odontometric investigations tooth size standards can be used for age and sex determination.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of sexual dimorphism and to evaluate the differences in mesio-distal and bucco-lingual width of deciduous dentition among 3 – 5 year old school children of Wardha city, India.

Methods: A cross-sectional study on  was conducted on 100 school children comprised of 50 male and 50 female children of 3-5 years were selected. The greatest mesio-distal width of all deciduous teeth was measured using a vernier caliper of 0.1mm resolution. The mesio-distal widths were measured between its contact points. Similarly the bucco-lingual/palatal widths were measured.The Student’s-t test was used to test the difference between measurements of male and female children.

Results: Statistically significant difference has been observed in maxillary canine and 1st molar mesio-distal width between male and female children. Statistically significant difference has been observed between male and female children for mandibular lateral incisor and 2nd molar teeth.

Conclusions: The sexual dimorphism also exists in deciduous dentition. These findings could be of much use in identifying the sex of victims where extensive loss of soft tissues makes identification difficult.

Introduction

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For every child is wished a beautiful future but fate sometimes intervenes. There have been numerous instances of accidents and natural calamities, in which children are the predominant victims and thus many promising lives’ cuts-off.  In many circumstances it is difficult for the family members to identify the victims because of extensive destruction caused by fire and mutilation. Teeth are an excellent material in living and non-living populations for anthropological, genetic, odontologic and forensic investigations. Their durability in the face of fire and bacterial decomposition makes them invaluable for identification. Based on odontometric investigations tooth size standards can be used for age and sex determination. This identification of sex using odontometric techniques is of real interest in case of major catastrophes when bodies are often damaged beyond recognition. 1 The Dental identifications have played a key role in natural and manmade disaster and in particular mass casualties normally associated with aviation disasters. In major air, train and hurricane disasters where cranial bones are fragmented, measurement of mesio-distal, bucco-lingual and cervico-incisal width of the mandibular and maxillary teeth and inter-canine distance provides an assistance to sex identification due to dimorphism. 2-3 Garn SN 4 et al reported that many teeth survives in air and hurricane disasters. The Dental identifications have played a key role in natural and manmade disasters and in particular mass casualties associated with aviation disasters. 1, 5, 6 Forensic odontology plays an important role that can be used in a judicial setting and accepted by court and general scientific community to separate truth from untruth. It represents the team efforts that typically involve the coordination and cooperation of law enforcement officials, forensic pathologist, forensic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists etc. It is the duty of us as forensic odontologists to use our expertise so that proper identification of victims is made and the families of the victims get closure. Many studies have been conducted to determine age and sexual dimorphism in permanent teeth, but very few number studies has been conducted on deciduous dentition. Hence we have designed this study to investigate the prevalence of sexual dimorphism and to evaluate the differences in mesio-distal and bucco-lingual width of deciduous dentition among 3 – 5 year old school children of Wardha city, India.

Material and Methods

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A cross-sectional study was conducted at Sharad Pawar Dental College & Hospital, Wardha, India. A total of 100 school children comprising of 50 male children and 50 female children in the age group ranging from 3-5 years were selected for the study.  Subjects who had fully erupted and sound deciduous teeth were included in the study. The subjects who had dental caries, mal-aligned teeth and space maintainers were excluded from the study. An Ethical Clearance was obtained from the Ethical Clearance Committee of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences University, Sawangi (M), Wardha.  An official permission was obtained from the concerned school authorities. The purpose and procedure was explained and an informed consent was obtained from the teacher in-charge of the school. The greatest mesio-distal width of all deciduous teeth was measured using a vernier caliper of 0.1mm resolution. The mesio-distal widths were measured between its contact points.  Similarly the bucco-lingual/palatal widths were measured. Each parameter was measured three times and the average reading was computed and recorded separately by the investigator. The values were expressed in Mean and standard deviation. The Student’s-t test was used to test the difference between measurements of male and female children.

Results

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Table 1 shows the significance of mean difference for mesio-distal width between male and female children in maxillary arch. The mesio-distal width of maxillary canine was 7.03±0.37 mm and for 1st molar (8.01±0.28mm) were larger in male children when compare to female children. Statistically significant difference has been observed in maxillary canine and 1st molar mesio-distal width between male and female children.
Table 2 shows the significance of mean difference for mesio-distal width between male and female children in mandibular arch. The mesio-distal width of mandibular lateral incisor in female children was larger (5.31±0.23 mm) when compared to male children (4.25±0.21 mm). Similarly mesio-distal width of mandibular 2nd molar in male children was larger (10.14±0.20 mm) when compared to female children (4.25±0.21 mm.). There was statistically significant difference has been observed between male and female children for mandibular lateral incisor and 2nd molar teeth.
Table 3 shows the significance of mean difference for bucco-lingual width between male and female children in maxillary arch. Statistically significant difference has been observed in maxillary 2nd molar between male and female children. The bucco-lingual width of maxillary 2nd molar was larger in male children (10.32±0.26 mm) when compared to female children.
Table 4 shows the significance of mean difference for bucco-lingual width between male and female children in mandibular arch. The bucco-lingual width of mandibular 2nd molar was larger in male children (10.02±0.25 mm) when compared to female children. Statistically significant difference has been observed in mandibular 2nd molar between male and female children.

Discussion

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The significance of tooth morphology is known to be influenced by cultural, environmental and racial factors. The identification of gender using odontometric techniques is of real interest in case of major catastrophes when bodies are often damaged beyond recognition. 1 
The sexual dimorphism of the deciduous dentition is less as compared to that of the permanent dentition. This effect is not due to the pooling of the bucco-lingual and mesio-distal dimorphism for the children, since the bucco-lingual dimorphism is comparable to the mesio-distal dimorphism for both children. The relatively small degree of tooth crown size dimorphism in the deciduous dentition makes the discriminant functions computed from these dimensions less effective for separating the gender than similar discriminant functions calculated from the permanent dentition.7 The only discriminant model based on the deciduous dentition correctly sexing over 75% of the population required nine measurements on seven teeth. In comparison, two of the models presented by Garn et al 8 required only two measurements on the permanent dentition to sex 204 individuals with an accuracy exceeding 80%.1.
In our study, we have observed statistically significant difference for mesio-distal width in maxillary canine, 1st molar and bucco-lingual width (PSexual dimorphism in tooth crown diameters appears to be less pronounced in the deciduous than in the permanent dentition. The results of this study may be tempered by the observation that the population studied here is a statistical population, and the pattern and degree of dimorphism may be different than would be encountered in a biological population. Furthermore, the results reported here relate to the study population alone and should not be generalized beyond it.

Conclusion

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The sexual dimorphism also exists in deciduous dentition. These findings could be of much use in identifying the sex of victims where extensive loss of soft tissues makes identification difficult.

Acknowledgement

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The authors are grateful to Head mistress of Alphonsa School, Sawangi (M), Wardha for their kind permission to conduct this study. Our sincere thanks are also due to Dr. Vijay Wadhwan, Dr. Amol Gadbail, Dr. Deepali Mohite, department of oral & maxillofacial pathology for their valuable contributions.

References

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1. Kaushal S, Patnaik VVG, Sood V, Agnihotri G. Sex determination in North Indians using Mandibular canine index. J Indian Assoc Forensic Medicine 2004; 26: 45 – 49.
2. Bagi BS. Role of forensic odontology in medicine.J Indian Dent Aaoc 1977;49:       359 – 63.
3. Anderson DL, Thompson GW. Interrelationship and sex differences of dental and skeletal measurements. J Dent Res 1973;52:431-38.
4. Garn SN, Lewis AB, Swindler DR, Kerewsky RS. Genetic control of sexual dimorphism in tooth size. J Dent Res 1967;46:963-72.
5. Bosset WA, Marks HH. Prevalence and characteristics of periodontal disease in 12,800 persons under periodic dental observation. J Am Dent Assoc 1956;52:442-49.
6. BR Chandra Shekar, CVK Reddy. Role of dentist in person identification. Indian J Dent Res 2009; 20: 356 – 60.
7. Mohammed Q Al-Fifaiy, Aleem Abdullah, Iqbal Ashraf and Nazeer Khan. Dimorphism of mandibular and maxillary canine teeth in establishing sex identity. Saudi dent j 1997; 9; 17 – 20.
8. Garn SM, Cole PE, Wainwright RL and Guire KE. Sex discrimination effectiveness using combinations of permanent teeth. J Dent Res 1977; 56 : 697.

Source(s) of Funding

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Self funded research

Competing Interests

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None

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