Son los índices caninos mandibular y maxilar herramientas fidedignas para la determinación del sexo

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Teeth, essential components of stomatognathic system, stand as a splendid raw material for paleontological, archaeological, anthropological, genetic and forensic researches by virtue of their colossal resistance to extreme intra-vitam and/or post-mortem conditions. Information on their size has allowed the application of procedures for age estimation and sex determination, thus contributing to the process of human identification itself. Objectives: the aim of this paper was to verify whether mandibular and maxillary canine indexes were reliable and valid instruments for sex determination in a Uruguayan sample. Methods: the survey was an odontometric analysis of 1000 dental stone casts (475 upper – 238 from females and 237 from males -, and 525 inferior – 261 and 264 - respectively) belonging to patients, aged between 18 and 60 years, assisted in one orthodontic clinic of Montevideo, Uruguay, consisting of measurements of mesiodistal diameter of canines and intercanine distance, and calculation of canine indexes. Results: the overall success rate was 45.9% for the mandibular canine index and 50.52% for the maxillary canine index. Conclusions: mandibular and maxillary canine indexes did not allow safe sex determination in the questioned sample.