Effect of Age, Gender & Dental Status on Mandibular Morphology and Articular Eminence Inclination – Panoramic Study

Morphologically mandible plays a vital role in the aesthetics of the human face & stomatognathic system, which facilitates several functions such as mastication, deglutition, and phonation and also plays a pivotal role in the determination & identification even after a disaster or decomposed body with missing fragments.^[1]

Because of the variable rate of growth and forces of masticatory muscles during mandibular morphogenesis, it is feasible to differentiate between both genders. Also, morphological and anatomical variations are evident with advancing age.

To explore and evaluate the impact of age, gender, and the status of dentition of the mandible, morphometric analysis including articular eminence is required on a digital panoramic radiograph or OPG. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 digital OPGs randomly selected from the stored database of patients of age above 18 years visiting the Department of Oral Medicine & Radiology in Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Panchkula, for varying dental problems. 300 digital panoramic radiographs divided into three groups (n=100 in each group): Group I: completely dentate, age: 18 to 40 years; Group II: completely dentate, age: above 40 years; Group III: completely edentate above 40 years; with an equal number of (n=50) male and female radiographs in each group. These parameters were measured by Planmeca Proline Xc digital radiographic machine with parameters of 64-70 kV at 8 mA. Pearson correlation coefficient applied. The result was statistically evaluated by using the ANOVA test.

This study reveals that the mandibular morphology can serve as a pivotal tool for prediction of age and gender, based on all the above-covered parameters. The current research has shown a more profound impact on evaluation in the field of forensic odontology, identification of unknown individual's estimation of the gender and the age.