Age- and sex-related mandibular dimensional changes: A radiomorphometric analysis on panoramic radiographs.
Introduction
Mandible undergoes age- and sex-related structural changes similar to other bones of the body. Thus, morphometric analysis of the mandible helps in age and sex determination.


Aim
To investigate the influence of age and sex on the mandible by measuring three parameters, i.e. gonial angle, ramus height and bigonial width.


Materials and Methods
A retrospective radiomorphometric analysis was conducted in the department of Oral Medicine and Radiology. A total of 300 panoramic radiographs (150 males and 150 females) equally distributed in six study groups according to the age were analysed. The measurements were performed using DIGORA 2.8 software for Windows. The acquired data was statistically analysed by one way ANOVA test and Student's t-test using SPSS (v. 19.0).


Results
Statistically significant differences according to age were found in gonial angle dimensions. Ramus height and bigonial width did not demonstrate statistically significant co-relation with age. According to sex, all the three study parameters showed statistically highly significant differences.


Conclusion
The morphometric analysis of the mandible is a useful tool for age estimation and sex determination.
['Shah|Palak H|PH|', 'Venkatesh|Rashmi|R|', 'More|Chandramani B|CB|', 'Vaishnavee|V|V|']
D000704:Analysis of Variance D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008334:Mandible D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital D011862:Radiography, Panoramic D012189:Retrospective Studies
panoramic mandible Dental morphometry radiography