Sexual dimorphism and odontometric analysis of permanent maxillary and mandibular first molar: an anthropometric study

Background: Sexual variations in human skeleton and dentition have been of great concern for both odontologists and anthropologists. The tooth crown size is a valuable tool and provides significant information on human evolution and biological alterations in forensic evaluation. Objectives: To determine the mesio-distal (MD) and bucco-lingual/palatal (BL) crown width of all permanent maxillary and mandibular first molars on dental cast for sex determination. Material and Method: A prospective study was undertaken in 200 participants of age 16-35 years. The BL and MD crown width of all the permanent first molars was measured on maxillary and mandibular dentalcast by using digital vernier calliper, separately by two investigators. The measurements were subjected to statistical analysis, using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Kappa test, Chi Square Test, linear regression model. Results and Observations: The maximum number of participants were between the age group of 16-20 years (16%). The male participants (55%) outnumbered the female participants (45%). The MD crown width of maxillaryfirst molar (10.51 ± 0.761 for males, 10.24 ± 0.586 for females) and for mandibular first molar (10.68 ± 0.750 for males, 10.38 ± 0.671 females) and the BL crown width for maxillary first molar (9.91 ± 0.858 males, 9.63 ± 0.668 for females) and for mandibular first molar (9.75 ± 0.756 for males, 9.51 ± 0.649 for females), was highly significant (p < 0.05). An equation was derived for estimating sex from the tooth crown measurement and the sectioning points were determined based on maxillary and mandibular first molar. The accuracy for determining sex from maxillary and mandibular first molar crown was 64.0 % and 66.5 % respectively. Conclusion: The maxillary and mandibular first molar exhibited sexual dimorphism. But mandibular first molar is the most significant tool for determining sex.