USING DENTAL ARCH ANATOMY FOR AGE AND SEXESTIMATION IN COMMUNITY BASED HEALTH SURVEY
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Keywords
Abstract
Proper determination of age and gender has significance in community health survey, forensic
identification and epidemiological studies. Dental arch anatomy has been considered a consistent biological
marker due to the comparative stability of dental structures to changes and degradations postnatally.
Nevertheless, there are scarce local information as to its applicability to community-based populations.
Methodology: The present study was a community based cross-sectional study that was carried out at Kabir
Medical College, Gandhara University, Peshawar, between January 2024 and January 2025. There was a total
of 72 participants that had healthy permanent dentition. Dental impressions were taken, and casts of the studies
were made to be measured with a digital Vernier caliper on maxillary and mandibular arch measures. Arch
measurements in terms of sex and age were compared with the help of the corresponding statistical tests.
Results: Males depicted much broader dental arch sizes than females specifically in intercanine width,
intermolar width, and arch perimeter. Significant differences were also found among the various age groups
with highest arch dimensions recorded in young adults then a slow decrease in the number of older participants.
The shape of dental arches expressed a strong relationship with sex, full arch and tapered arch being
predominant among female and male respectively.
Conclusion: The dental arch anatomy has been found to be sexually dimorphic, and with age-related difference
which can be measured, making its use as an auxiliary sex-estimation and age-group determination tool in
community surveys. Dental measurements are simple and cheap and can prove to be a viable tool in an
environment where a more advanced method of identification is not widely accessible.
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Muhammad Naeem
Associate Professor, Department of Community Dentistry, Bacha Khan Dental College,Mardan, Pakistan
Muhammad Yousaf
Assistant Professor, Department of Community Dentistry, Bacha Khan Dental College,Mardan, Pakistan
Amber Saba
Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, Kabir Medical College, Gandhara University,Peshawar, Pakistan
Mamoona Shah
Assistant Professor, Department of Dental Materials, Bacha Khan Dental College, Mardan, Pakistan
Sajila Raziq
Demonstrator, Department of Dental Materials, Bacha Khan Dental College, Mardan, Pakistan
