Gender Determination by Pantomographic Analysis of Mental Foramen

Introduction: Panoramic radiography, also called panoramic x-ray, is a two-dimensional dental x-ray examination which enables the capture of the entire mouth in a single image, including the teeth, upper and lower jaws, surrounding structures and tissues. Orthopantomography radiographs are used by oral surgeons to plan treatment for dentures, braces, extractions and implants. The mental foramen is one of two foramina situated on the anterior surface of the mandible. It transmits the terminal branches of the inferior alveolar nerve and vessels. The aim of the study is to evaluate the gender differences from the distances from superior border of mental foramen and inferior border of mental foramen to the lower border of mandible. Materials And Methods: 20 OPGs were collected and the distance from the superior and inferior border of the foramen to the lower border of mandible was measured and the results were analysed.The graphs were plotted in SPSS. Results: The values of distance from the superior and inferior border of the mental foramen to the lower border of mandible were found to be higher in males compared to females. On comparing and applying independent t-test for both the genders, the p was found to be 0.543 which is not statistically significant (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Mental foramen values were found to be higher in males than the females. Mental foramen can be used as a diagnostic tool in gender determination. This technique is of high importance during mass disasters for identification of unknown persons.