Dimorphism of maxillary and mandibular canine teeth in establishing sex identity

Teeth form an excellent material for anthropological, genetic, odontologic and forensic investigations. Amongst all the teeth, the canines are found to exhibit greatest sexual dimorphism. The present study was performed on 150 healthy volunteers (75 males, 75 females) of 17 - 21 years of North Indian origin with the aim to investigate whether any correlation existed between odontometric measures including maxillary and mandibular canine measures, and sex determination. The mesiodistal and buccolingual measurements were subjected to statistical analysis using the t test to determine whether significant differences exist between tooth sizes in males and females. Mean value of mesiodistal and buccolingual measures of maxillary and mandibular canines was higher in males than females and the difference was statistically highly significant (p value <0.001). The right and left maxillary and mandibular canine measures among genders showed no significant difference. Our study conclusively establishes the existence of a definite statistically significant sexual dimorphism in maxillary and mandibular canines. It can be concluded that odontometric measures of canines are a quick and reliable method for sexual identification when a standard for the population is available. This method can be used as adjunct to other available tools for sex determination.