Comparative assessment on an odontometric analysis of reported studies with contemporary northwest Indian adult population for their potential contribution towards sex estimation

An odontometric analysis has been widely used for sex estimation and some statistical standards have been suggested for sex estimation in medico-legal investigations. The present research investigation is to assess the extent of sexual dimorphism in contemporary individuals of the northwestern region of India and further evaluate the comparative analysis of sex estimation accuracy with reported studies all over the world for its potential contribution towards sex estimation in routine forensic casework. Total of 45 reported studies were compared with the contemporary northwest Indian adult population for their potential contribution towards sex estimation. Differences in teeth measurement for sex assessment on permanent teeth varies from one population to another population and thus, criteria cannot be extended to another group of individuals than it was developed. Thus, the results generated from the present study suggest that the odontometric method can be useful and reliable for sex determination, especially when traditional dental identification techniques are not plausible.