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Sex determination in Uruguayans by odontometric analysis
Sassi, Carlos; Picapedra, Alicia; Lima, Laíse Nascimento Correia; Júnior, Luiz Francesquini; Daruge, Eduardo & Júnior, Eduardo Daruge
Abstract
Sex assessment plays an important role in the forensic and bioarchaeological spheres. Teeth are
invaluable elements in non-living populations for sex determination, since they commonly resist
post-mortem damages and are latent sources of information about dimorphism. Aim: The present
study consisted in an odontometric analysis willing to examine sexual dimorphism in Uruguayans.
Methods: One hundred and twelve inferior dental stone casts, 56 from males and 56 from
females, aged between 21 and 60 years, from one orthodontic clinic of Montevideo, capital of
Uruguay, were analyzed. Several measurements and calculations were made, such as mesiodistal
diameter and gingivoincisal length of mandibular canines, intercanine distance, mandibular canine
index and the area of a virtual triangle. Results: Only mesiodistal diameter and gingivoincisal
length of right canine, and the area of the triangle showed statistically significant differences
between both sexes. The authors obtained a logistic regression model for sex determination with
a reliability rate of 72.3% and a classification and regression tree with an accuracy of 77.7%.
Conclusions: The results revealed that this method can be applied in forensic anthropology, as
an auxiliary tool in human identification.
Keywords
forensic anthropology, odontometry, sex dimorphism.
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