The main purpose of this work is to investigate the application of dental morphological features as a potential qualitative method of sex classification in medico-legal identification. The classification of 16 non-metric dental traits was performed by ASUDAS (Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System) method. The traits displayed exclusively by the crowns of permanent teeth were analyzed on dental casts of a Portuguese population sample consisting of 53 male and 57 female individuals.
No significant differences (p<0.05) were found between males and females for all investigated traits, except for the dental tubercle of tooth 13, for the metaconule of tooth 27 and the canine distal accessory ridge of teeth 33 and 43. Based on the method applied, tooth 43 has proven to be the most dimorphic among the Portuguese population. Further, a gender classification model using significant different traits between both sexes of the teeth 13, 27 and 43 was developed, and it proved to have a reasonable gender classification reliability (with 76.4 percent of correct classification, Cox & Snell’s pseudo R2 equals to 0.344 and Nagelkerke’s pseudo R2 equals to 0.458) although with a significant probability of misclassification.
Diagnosis of gender is a significant step in reconstructive postmortem profiling of medico-legal personal identification [1].
Sex classification is a complicated procedure, especially in scenarios of severe mutilation or advanced decomposition, where bodies are damaged beyond recognition and also in cases of non-adult skulls whose sexual characteristics have not yet been developed. In these circumstances, teeth can play an important role as a source of sex information [2,3].
In humans, although only two biological sexes exist, sex differentiation through morphological methods is difficult [2,4,5]. However, the examination of skeleton and dental morphological features represents a method that may help to build the biological profile of an unknown individual, serving as alternative and complementary elements useful in sex discrimination [6-10].
Even though dental sexual dimorphism has been mostly studied by means of odontometric analysis, tooth morphology also represents a valid qualitative method for its study [11-14].
The investigations in dental morphology context seek to observe record, analyze and understand the behavior of the expression (frequency, variability and degree of expression) of the coronary and radicular morphological characteristics of human teeth. These dental traits can take different phenotypic presentations of dental enamel, whose expression is thought to be regulated by the genome of an individual and population during odontogenes is; these can appear in forms of positive structures (such as cusps) or negative (as grooves and depressions). These distinct features or traits have the potential to be present or not in a specific location, occur in one or several individuals within the same population group and, when present, exhibit variable degrees of expression while having both a conservative and a dynamic evolution [15-19].
So far, there are over 100 coronary and radicular dental traits recognized in the human dentition. The excelling analysis method of these features reported in the literature is the ASUDAS method developed at the Department of Anthropology of the Arizona State University. This observational method provides a scoring system to classify the degree of expression of dental morphological variants allowing to evaluate them beyond the dichotomy presence or absence [13,20].
The main purpose of this experimental study was to test the possibility of a correct sexual diagnosis using a qualitative method, namely through the analysis of dental morphological traits.
This identification procedure of forensic character was carried out on a sample of the Portuguese population gathered at the School of Dentistry, University of Lisbon.
About 16 Non-metric Dental Crown Traits (NDCT) were investigated on 24 permanent teeth resulting in multiple experimental hypotheses (66) to be tested.
The sample used in this study consisted of dental casts selected from 110 patients of the Orthodontics Post-Graduate Specialization Course, after following the ethical approval by the Ethics Committee for Health of the School of Dentistry, University of Lisbon.
The participants were of Portuguese nationality and Portuguese origin (data obtained from individual records of the clinical process) and had Caucasian population affinity (obtained through the cover photo of the clinical process). Also the presence of permanent teeth (except third molars) as well as the absence of teeth affected by congenital anomalies were inclusion criteria for this study. No restriction of age was applied.
For the observation of 16 NDCT in the permanent dentition (Tables 1 and 2) this study used the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System (ASUDAS).Each of the 110 cases was assigned a corresponding code number to the clinical process, not only for the observer to be unaware of the sex of the participants during observations (single-blinded), as well as to facilitate further processing data and in order not to disclose identifying information.
Nonmetric dental crown trait | Teeth |
Labial convexity Shoveling Tuberculum dentale |
12, 11, 21, 22 13, 12, 11, 21, 22, 23 13, 12, 11, 21, 22, 23 |
Canine mesial ridge Canine distal accessory ridge |
13, 23 13, 23 |
Metacone Hypocone |
17, 16, 26, 27 17, 16, 26, 27 |
Cusp 5 (Metaconule) Carabelli’s Trait |
17, 16, 26, 27 17, 16, 26, 27 |
Parastyle | 17, 16, 26, 27 |
Table 1: Dental morphological traits observed in permanent dentition - Upper arch.
Non-metric dental crown trait | Teeth |
Shoveling Canine distal accessory ridge |
41, 42, 31, 32 43, 33 |
Premolar lingual cusp variation Anterior Fovea |
45, 44, 34, 35 46, 36 |
Deflecting wrinkle Cusp 5 (Hypoconulid) |
46, 36 47, 46, 36, 37 |
Cusp 6 (Entoconulid) |
47, 46, 36, 37 |
Cusp 7 (Metaconulid) | 47, 46, 36, 37 |
Table 2: Dental morphological traits observed in permanent dentition - Lower arch.
The observation sessions took place in a room with natural light and were macroscopically performed without magnification lens (Figure 1).The study counted only with the participation of one observer and was performed over approximately 2 months. Inorder to minimize potential eye strain of the viewer that would compromise the following observations, small breaks (10 minutes) were taken between each characteristic assessed during the data collection.
Figure 1: UI2 shovel plaque for scoring upper lateral incisors and upper canines. Each of the ASUDAS standard reference plaques gives a physical representation of minimal and maximal characteristic expression and various gradations between these two points.
All NDCT were classified by its degree of expression and data were registred in a form developed for this purpose. Permanent teeth were named according to the FDI system.
All data resulting from observations were collected by the same observer. Thus, it was intended to introduce the least possible bias in a ssessments; simultaneously introducing interobserver variability was excluded. Each observation session of the dental morphological traits followed the same methodological criteria set for its completion.
However, it was necessary to estimate the intraobserver error. Thus, the observations were repeated at 10% of the sample after a time interval of more than1 month in order to suppress the memory effect.
The data obtained from the NDCT observation from each of the 110 cases were first entered into a template on Excel® sheet and statistical analyses was performed using the IBM® SPSS Statistics® Software, version 22.0. The 16 NDCT combined with the permanent teeth observed (all except third molars, often un erupted or extracted, and upper premolars, frequently extracted in orthodontic cases and due to the fact that the NDCT proposed by the ASUDAS for these teeth were considered irrelevant to include in the study) resulted in 66 independent variables (placed as experimental hypothesis) plus the variable sex.
Descriptive statistics was presented (distribution of the sample population by sex, distribution of all of teeth examined, frequencies of all independent variables and descriptive analysis of each variable by gender) and non-parametric tests were applied (Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon). The contingency coefficient was determined and the kappa coefficient was assessed. The conventional 5% level (p<0.05) was considered to be statistically significant.
In addition, abinomial logistic regression allowed modeling the probability of success for the reference category female, based on the development of a model for gender classification with 3 selected variables which showed significant differences among both sexes.
Independent variable | Tooth |
Wilcoxonp <0.05 |
Kappa coefficient value |
Strength of agreement (Altman, 1991) |
Labial convexity Anterior Fovea |
12* 36 |
0.034 0.034 |
0.146 0.314 |
Poor Fair |
Anterior Fovea | 46 | 0.034 | 0.302 | Fair |
Independent variable | Tooth | Mann-Whitney | Contingency coefficient | |
p<0.05 | ||||
Value | p<0.05 | |||
Tuberculum dentale | 13 | 0.048 | 0.403 | 0.006 |
Tuberculum dentale | 23 | 0.206 | 0.413 | 0.007 |
Cusp 5 (Metaconule) | 17 | 0.056 | 0.299 | 0.148 |
Cusp 5 (Metaconule) | 27 | 0.032 | 0.254 | 0.372 |
Canine distal accessory ridge | 33 | 0.022 | 0.333 | 0.089 |
Canine distal accessory ridge | 43 | 0.008 | 0.343 | 0.023 |
NDCT | Pair | Wilcoxon |
p<0.05 | ||
Tuberculum dentale Cusp 5 (Metaconule) Canine distal accessory ridge |
13-23 17-27 33-43 |
0.551 0.961 0.174 |
Table 5: Bilateral symmetry of the pairs of antimere teeth.
Predicted | |||
Gender | Percentage | ||
Observed | Male | Female | Correct |
Male | 41 | 12 | 77.4 |
Female | 14 | 43 | 75.4 |
Overall Percentage | 76.4 |
Sexual dimorphism: Through analysis of teeth, it is possible to study the sexual dimorphism of an individual from the patterns of dental development and eruption, the expression of the amelogen in protein, dental morphology and dental dimensions [13]. Once formed, teeth do not undergo changes in morphology like bones, but non-metric dental crown traits which are phenotypic forms of the enamel (expressed and regulated by the human genome of each individual) can disappear due to dental wear and as a consequence of certain oral pathologies [15,23,26].
In this study, the characteristics which showed significant differences between male and female were in tooth 13 (tuberculum dentale), tooth 27 (cusp 5/metaconule) and in teeth 33 and 43 (canine distal accessory ridge). However, Rocha et al., [27] achieved significant results for the existence of sexual dimorphism for the shoveling characteristic in the maxillary central incisors, using the ASUDAS method in the permanent dentition in a sample of 42 Colombian women and 42 Colombian men.
Scott and Turner fall within the group of researchers who claim that dental morphological characteristics are equally expressed between both sexes and that the sexual dimorphism exhibited by them is low or nonexistent. In studies of Goyes et al., [8] and Díaz et al., [28], both applied the ASUDAS method in the permanent dentition in different samples of the Colombian population, whose results demonstrated the absence of sexual dimorphism for the tuberculum dentale of the maxillary canines and the distal accessory ridge of the mandibular canines in the first study and, for cusp 5/metaconule for the second study mentioned. Such contradictory facts can reside on the assumption that in both cases the number of the sample was below the population of the present study, or that dental morphological characteristics are specific to a given population, or even because of the existing geographical distance separating population groups. Genetic and environmental factors may also be an explanation for these facts, although it is suggested that tooth morphology, in comparison with tooth size, is less susceptible to external effects [23,29].
As observed in the current study, other researchers concluded that there is no evidence of sexual dimorphism in the meta cone, hypo cone, Carabelli’s trait, parastyle, canine mesial ridge, labial convexity, shoveling, deflecting wrinkle, cusp 6/entoconulid and cusp 7/metaconulid when applying the ASUDAS method [15,28,30-32]. Reality behind these findings may be, again, due to a low number of individuals in each subpopulation group (gender), including the present study. A possible systematic reduction of sexual dimorphism throughout human evolution, combined with a gradual process of simplification of dental morphology, may have lead to trends increasingly monomorphic [9]. There may be also an association with a line of evolution of the species in the way that currently, a phenomenon related to the gracilization of males phenotypic characteristics, tend to occur [25]. However, according to Moreno-Gómez, contemporary human beings are dimorphic, although less than other hominids, contributing dental morphological traits (especially those of the canines) to this fact.
Dental sexual dimorphism studied by means of odontometric analysis have shown statistically significant differences in the permanent dentition for the canines, especially the mandibular ones [25,33-39]. Although the present study has employed a qualitative method, results are in agreement with this evidence. Based on the results obtained for the canine distal accessory ridge, teeth 33 and 43 were the most dimorphic in the population sample. Also Dumancic et al., [40], who devoted a study exclusively to the canine distal accessory ridge applying the ASUDAS method in a Croatian population, showed that the mandibular canine is a better sexual indicator than the maxillary canine in the permanent dentition. According to Scott [22], the canine distal accessory ridge is considered the NDCT with more dimorphic among the human dentition, displaying frequencies and forms of more pronounced expression in males, as verified by the results of the present study.
From a macro evolutionary point of view, it is known that canine teeth are less influenced by environmental factors and have greater stability in their morphogenetic field, hence the possible explanation for the higher degree of sexual dimorphism [7,13]. Nevertheless, further investigations are needed to clarify which genetic factors and sex hormones are directly involved in the process of morphogenesis, in order to better understand the presence/absence of various dental morphological characteristics in each sex, as well as the more pronounced forms of expression observed in males.
Dental symmetry: The pairs of antimere teeth (13-23/tuberculum dentale, 17-27 /metaconule and 33-43/canine distal accessory ridge) did not show bilateral asymmetry in the dental morphological characteristics between the right and the left side of the dental arches.
These results corroborate those of other studies in which there was a symmetric expression of the dental morphological characters [6,15,27,41]. In all, the ASUDAS method was employed in the permanent dentition. However, the dental morphological characteristics investigated were not the same, as well as the studied population. Thus, and in spite of the current study did not focus on the same dental morphological traits, it seems that a general symmetry of pairs of homologous teeth exist. The explanation more plausible for the observed bilateral symmetry is related to the gene influence that acts identically on opposite sides of the dental arch [42].
Accordingly, and with regard to the goals of this work, there is no gain in using two symmetrical teeth in the gender classification model since they contain similar information.
ASUDAS method reliability in sex classification: The attempt to model the probability of success for the female sex, by taking dental morphological characteristics of permanent teeth (13, 27 and 43) to elaborate a model, was innovative. But, despite having obtained more than 75% correct classifications, this did not fully fit the desired goal by presenting a significant probability of misclassification (23.6%).
The results proved the existence, albeit not as significant as it was intended, of sexual dimorphism in dental morphological characteristics of permanent teeth in a sample of the Portuguese population. These not only represent sexually dimorphic phenotypic structures, as may be specific to a particular population. The distal accessory ridge of the mandibular canines, proved to be the NDCT with more evidence of sexual dimorphism, showing frequencies and more pronounced forms of expression in males. Based on the method applied, tooth 43 has proven to be the most dimorphic and best sexual indicator among the Portuguese population through the NDCT canine distal accessory ridge.
However, the ASUDAS method has showed a not significant reliability to be used as a means of sexual diagnosis alone. The classification model elaborated with the dental morphological crown characteristics of teeth 13, 27 and 43 proved to be reasonable (76.4%) to estimate successfully for female (23.6% of misclassification)
Future work should include larger samples and comparative studies between distinct population groups to provide a greater reliability of this qualitative method of sex diagnosis, for the purpose of forensic application.
Fundação Nacional para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal - FCT under the project (PEst-OE/MAT/UI0006/2014), based on the research project for the integrated master thesis in Dental Medicine from the first author
Citation: Abrantes C, Santos R, Pestana D, Pereira CP (2015) Application of Dental Morphological Characteristics for Medical-Legal Identification: Sexual Diagnosis in a Portuguese Population. J Forensic Legal Investig Sci 1: 001.
Copyright: © 2015 Catarina Abrantes, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.