Correlation of Odontometric Measures in Sex Determination

Mandibular canines exhibit the greatest sexual dimorphism amongst all teeth. The present study was performed on 400 healthy volunteers (200 males, 200 females) of 17 - 21 years with the aim to investigate whether any correlation existed between odontometric measures including mandibular canine index, and sex determination. Mean value of intercanine distance was higher in males than females and the difference was statistically highly significant (p value<0.01). Comparison of mean values of left and right mandibular canine widths exhibited lesser values in females. The variation in right and left mandibular canine width between males and females was highly significant (p value<0.01). The right and left mandibular canine index (MCI) among genders showed no significant difference. A mesio-distal canine width greater than 7.3 mm was suggestive of male sex. Our study conclusively establishes the existence of a definite statistically significant sexual dimorphism in mandibular canines and that MCI is of limited value.