Morphometric and Morphological Parameters of the Adult Dry Human Mandible: An Observational Study with Sex-Based Comparison
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background: The mandible is widely regarded as one of the more sexually dimorphic bones of the facial skeleton, and its measurement continues to inform forensic and anatomical sex estimation, particularly when more established skeletal indicators such as the pelvis or skull are unavailable or fragmented.
Objective: To document the morphometric and morphological parameters of the adult dry human mandible and to compare these parameters between males and females.
Methods: This observational, cross-sectional study examined 100 adult dry mandibles of documented sex (50 male, 50 female). Thirteen linear and angular parameters were measured bilaterally with a digital vernier calliper and a goniometer, and eleven categorical morphological parameters were classified. Independent-samples t-test was used for continuous variables and the chi-square test (Fisher's exact where applicable) for categorical variables, with p<0.05 taken as significant.
Results: Most linear parameters were significantly greater in males, most notably the coronoid process and lingula, where every sub-measurement differed between sexes (p<0.0001). The gonial angle was significantly greater, that is more obtuse, in females (about 124 degrees versus about 119 degrees, p<0.0001). Ramus shape was the strongest categorical discriminator (chi-square 32.733, p<0.0001), while condylar process shape, mental foramen shape, symphysis menti shape, and mandibular canal type showed no significant sex difference.
Conclusion: The adult mandible shows sexual dimorphism that is substantial but anatomically selective, concentrated in specific regions rather than distributed evenly across the bone, and these findings offer population-specific reference data with practical relevance to forensic sex estimation
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Reid KM, Martin LJ, Heathfield LJ. Understanding the burden of unidentified bodies: a systematic review. Int J Legal Med. 2023;137(4):1193–1202.
Toy S, Seçgin Y, Öner Z, Turan MK, Öner S, Şenol D. A study on sex estimation by using machine learning algorithms with parameters obtained from computerized tomography images of the cranium. Sci Rep. 2022;12:4278.
Plotkin LI, Bruzzaniti A, Pianeta R. Sexual dimorphism in the musculoskeletal system: sex hormones and beyond. J Endocr Soc. 2024;8(10):bvae153.
Mendes LC, Delrieu J, Gillet C, Telmon N, Maret D, Savall F. Sexual dimorphism of the mandibular conformational changes in aging human adults: a multislice computed tomographic study by geometric morphometrics. PLoS One. 2021;16(6):e0253564.
Singh R, Singh H, Aggarwal N, Sehgal G, Chandel S, Kumar N. Sexual dimorphism in mandibular ramus morphometry: a population-specific analysis using orthopantomograms in the Lucknow region. Cureus. 2025;17(3):e80515.
Baban MT, Mohammad DN. The accuracy of sex identification using CBCT morphometric measurements of the mandible, with different machine-learning algorithms: a retrospective study. Diagnostics (Basel). 2023;13(14):2342.
Esfehani M, Ghasemi M, Katiraee A, Tofangchiha M, Alizadeh A, Taghavi-Damghani F, Testarelli L, Reda R. Forensic gender determination by using mandibular morphometric indices in an Iranian population: a panoramic radiographic cross-sectional study. J Imaging. 2023;9(2):40.
Arthanari A, Sureshbabu S, Ramalingam K, Prathap L, Ravindran V. Forensic gender prediction by using mandibular morphometric indices: a panoramic radiograph study. Cureus. 2024;16(3):e56603.
Arthanari A, Senthilkumar A, Ramalingam K, Prathap L, Ravindran V. Exploring age and gender identification through mandibular parameters using orthopantomography: an observational study. Cureus. 2024;16(3):e55788.
Sivadas KS, Rao K, Ajila V, Jain Y. Assessment of condyle-sigmoid-coronoid triangle and gonial angle for age estimation and sex determination: a retrospective orthopantomograph study. J Oral Biol Craniofac Res. 2026. Epub ahead of print.
von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, Pocock SJ, Gøtzsche PC, Vandenbroucke JP, for the STROBE Initiative. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. Lancet. 2007;370(9596):1453–1457.
Küchler EC, Kirschneck C, Marañón-Vásquez GA, Schroder ÂGD, Baratto-Filho F, Romano FL, Stuani MBS, Matsumoto MAN, de Araujo CM. Mandibular and dental measurements for sex determination using machine learning. Sci Rep. 2024;14:9587.
Mahapatra S, Hebbale M, Mhapuskar A, Halli R, Mittal A. Anatomical variants of condylar process, coronoid process, and sigmoid notch in a Maharashtrian population: a radiographic study. Cureus. 2023;15(6):e40434.
Şenol D, Bodur F, Seçgin Y, Şencan D, Duman ŞB, Öner Z. Gender estimation from morphometric measurements of mandibular lingula by using machine learning algorithms and artificial neural networks. Niger J Clin Pract. 2024;27(6):732–738.
Christoloukas N, Mitsea A, Kovatsi L, Angelopoulos C. Sex determination using linear anthropometric measurements relative to the mandibular reference plane on CBCT 3D images. J Imaging. 2025;11(7):224.
Corda JV, Karthikeyan A, Zuber M, Jacob M, Ramos A, Hosapatna M, Dsouza A, Pandey AK, Ankolekar VH. Estimation of sexual dimorphism of adult human mandibles of South Indian origin using non-metric parameters and machine learning classification algorithms. Sci Rep. 2025;15. Epub 2025 Oct 3.
Karmali N, Krishna K, R R. Morphological and morphometric evaluation of mandibular coronoid process, condylar process and mandibular ramus in Jharkhand and Bihar population. Int J Res Rev. 2022;9(2):10–16.
de Araujo CM, de Jesus Freitas PF, Ferraz AX, Quadras ICC, Zeigelboim BS, Priolo Filho S, Beisel-Memmert S, Schroder AGD, Camargo ES, Küchler EC. Sex determination through maxillary dental arch and skeletal base measurements using machine learning. Head Face Med. 2024;20:44...