Morphometric Parameters of the Mandibular Ramus an Indicator for Sex Determination: A Radiographic Study

Skeletal remains play an important role in forensic and anthropological studies and investigations to determine the individuals’ sex and age. The Mandibular bone is the largest and strongest skull bone that remains almost intact after death. Due to the varying size and shape of the mandible in men and women, the researchers use the morphometric properties of this bone to determine sex. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the morphometric parameters of the mandible in Tehran population.

In the present descriptive study, 100 orthopantomographs (from 50 males and 50 females) were used to measure three parameters of mandible including ramus length, ramus width, and body length. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 25.0 software running T-test with the significance level set at <0.05 (P <0.05).

The mean length of ramus in men and women were 74 and 67 mm, respectively (P <0.05). The mean length of ramus was longer in men on both right and left sides as compared with the women. Also, the mean parameter measure on the left side was found to be greater than that of the right side in both sexes. There was no significant difference between the width of the ramus and the length of the mandibular body between men and women.

It can be concluded that the measurement of mandibular ramus parameters is an important indicator of gender determination in forensics and anthropology.