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Sexual Dimorphism in Adult Human Mandible of South Indian Origin

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Background: Mandible is the most durable and sexually dimorphic bone of the skull and resists postmortem changes too. Sexual dimorphism is seen in stages of mandibular development, growth rates and duration. Even by simple observation there is clear difference in size, height, thickness and muscle markings of mandible. Context and purpose: To establish and compare few metric parameters to assess sexual dimorphism in adult human mandibles of south Indian population. Methods: The present study was conducted on 60 dry adult human mandibles collected from anatomy dept of Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences and VRK Womens Medical College, Hyderabad. Only adult intact mandibles were included in study damaged, deformed broken bones excluded from study. First we classified bones depending on morphological features/non-metric parameters into males and females. Non-metric parameters were also recorded. Results: The mean bigonial breadth was 93.62 mm in males compared to 80.78 mm in females. Thus it was more in males compared to females and this difference was found out to be statistically significant. The bicoronoid breadth was 91.09 mm in males compared to 84.24 mm in females. Thus the bicoronoid breadth was more in males compared to females and this difference was found out to be statistically significant. Mandibular body height was significantly different for males and females mean for males was 28.13 mm and for females mean was 25.40 mm. Parameters like the mean bicondylar breadth, bimental breadth were not significantly different in males and females. Conclusion: The mean bigonial breadth, mean bicoronoid breadth and mandibular body height was significantly more in males compared to females. But other parameters were similar in both the sexes. Potential implications: Sexual dimorphism of skull is population specific due to combination of genetic as well as environmental factors. Racial and ethnic differences are also there. These metric data are useful for medicolegal, anthropological and dentofacial surgical procedures also.

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Background: Mandible is the most durable and sexually dimorphic bone of the skull and resists postmortem changes too. Sexual dimorphism is seen in stages of mandibular development, growth rates and duration. Even by simple observation there is clear difference in size, height, thickness and muscle markings of mandible. Context and purpose: To establish and compare few metric parameters to assess sexual dimorphism in adult human mandibles of south Indian population. Methods: The present study was conducted on 60 dry adult human mandibles collected from anatomy dept of Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences and VRK Womens Medical College, Hyderabad. Only adult intact mandibles were included in study damaged, deformed broken bones excluded from study. First we classified bones depending on morphological features/non-metric parameters into males and females. Non-metric parameters were also recorded. Results: The mean bigonial breadth was 93.62 mm in males compared to 80.78 mm in females. Thus it was more in males compared to females and this difference was found out to be statistically significant. The bicoronoid breadth was 91.09 mm in males compared to 84.24 mm in females. Thus the bicoronoid breadth was more in males compared to females and this difference was found out to be statistically significant. Mandibular body height was significantly different for males and females mean for males was 28.13 mm and for females mean was 25.40 mm. Parameters like the mean bicondylar breadth, bimental breadth were not significantly different in males and females. Conclusion: The mean bigonial breadth, mean bicoronoid breadth and mandibular body height was significantly more in males compared to females. But other parameters were similar in both the sexes. Potential implications: Sexual dimorphism of skull is population specific due to combination of genetic as well as environmental factors. Racial and ethnic differences are also there. These metric data are useful for medicolegal, anthropological and dentofacial surgical procedures also.

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This page is a summary of: Sexual Dimorphism in Adult Human Mandible of South Indian Origin, Indian Journal of Anatomy, January 2019, Red Flower Publication Private, Ltd.,
DOI: 10.21088/ija.2320.0022.8419.6.
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