ABSTRACT
Dental radiography mainly panoramic radiography has been widely used in dentistry including the forensic odontology field through radiomorphometric analysis. It plays a vital role in the identification process since it is an objective, simple, and non-invasive technique. Gender determination is a crucial part of forensic investigations since it is usually the first step in the identification process. Gonion angle and upper ramus breadth are part of the mandible with high sexual dimorfism, hence these become an important parameter to determine gender through radiomorphometric analysis. The aim of this study is to analyze the gonion angle and upper ramus breadth for gender determination based on radiomorphometric measurement. The radiomorphometric analysis was conducted on 160 digital panoramic radiographs of patients aged 18 and above. The measurement was performed using the software i-Dixel. The data was statistically analyzed using logistic regression. The results of this study show a statistically significant difference between male and female gonion angles with p-value = 0.0001 (p < 0.05) as well as upper ramus breadth. The gonion angle is higher in females than males, whereas upper mandibular ramus breadth is higher in males than females. The regression equation predicted 73.8% gender accurately. The gonion angle variable has a greater B exponent value than upper ramus breadth which indicates gonion angle is more accurate to predict gender than upper ramus breadth. Gonion angle and upper ramus breadth are reliable mandibular parameters for gender determination through radiomorphometric analysis on panoramic radiographs.
