TITLE:
Sex Estimation through Morphometric Analysis of the Temporomandibular Joint
AUTHORS:
Vanessa de Carvalho Melo, Antonio Azoubel Antunes, Evelyne Pessoa Soriano, Suzana Célia de Aguiar Soares Carneiro, Maria Cecília Souza Pires Gurgel, Gustavo Pinto Vilar, Gabriela Granja Porto
KEYWORDS:
Temporomandibular Joint, Forensic Anthropology, Sexual Dimorphism
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Anthropology,
Vol.12 No.2,
May
31,
2022
ABSTRACT: The present study evaluated through a morphometric analysis the
temporomandibular joint (TMJ) to estimate sex. Participants in a database with
archived tomographic images of patients who
sought the Radiology Clinic of the Hospital Universitário Oswaldo Cruz/University
of Pernambuco for face or skull tomography were evaluated. Gender was recorded
while the participant underwent the tomographic exam and was indexed in the
database. The tomographies were recorded in
DICOM format and were evaluated using the OSIRIX HD Software. The
morphology of the mandibular fossa, the joint eminence and the condyle were
evaluated. The measures were analyzed statistically, and results with p 0.05 were
considered statistically significant. Both the length of the right and left
mandibular condyle (Aco-pco) showed larger dimensions in the male group with a
statistically significant result (p =
0.003). The measurements of the glenoid cavity also showed statistical significance with the male gender presenting a higher
measurement standard than the female. There was a statistically significant
association between Morphology of the
left articular eminence and sex. Conclusion: Some linear measures of the JTM indicated the possibility of
establishing sexual differentiation and showed that the values referring
to the male group tend to be higher than those of the female sex. Further
studies with larger sample numbers are needed to achieve scientific evidence.