Background and objectives: Among morphological characteristics that differentiate a male from a female, tooth size has also been evaluated in various populations for its applicability in anthropologic and forensic investigations to identify the gender from dental remains. The present study was undertaken to investigate the accuracy of mesio-distal width of the mandibular canines, inter-canine arch width, and Mandibular Canine Index (MCI) with which gender can be differentiated in Moradabad population and to correlate the results with other available data.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the casts of 30 males and 30 females between the age group of 19-30 years.
Results: The mean right and left canine dimension (RCW and LCW) for females was between 6.28 mm and 6.54 mm while that of males was 7.06 mm and 7.45 mm. The mean inter-canine arch width (ICW) in males was 27.64 mm, whereas in females was 23.42 mm. Area under curve (AUC) of ICW, RCW, and LCW had 100%, 98%, and 99.7%. The predicted sensitivity and specificity observed of three criteria was 100% for ICW, 93.3% and 93.3% for RCW, and 96.7% and 100% for LCW, which were found to be highly statistically significant. The mean values of right and left CMI were significantly higher in females as compared to males (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The MCI parameter in the present study was a quick and reliable method for sexual identification and showed sexual dimorphism by both the RMCI and LMCI with greater significance in identifying females by using RMCI.
Keywords: Forensic identification; inter-canine width; mandibular canine index; sexual dimorphism.