Reliability of mandibular canine and mandibular canine index in sex determination: A study using Uyghur population

• Mandibular canines, inter-canine distance and MCI exhibit sexual dimorphism.
• MCI is fairly reliable in sex determination.
• Standard MCI used to determine sex should be derived from same population.

Sex determination is a key process that is required to establish the forensic profile of an individual. Mandibular canine index (MCI) method yields fairly positive results for sex determination. However, this method has been challenged by a few authors. This study aimed to examine the reliability of MCI in Chinese Uyghur population and to establish its normal value for this ethnic group. Dental casts of 216 students (117 males and 119 females) from the College of Stomatology of Xinjiang Medical University in China were used to determine the sexing accuracy of MCI. The mesiodistal (MD) dimension of mandibular canine crowns, the inter-canine distance, and the MCI were calculated. The accuracy of the standard MCI derived from the current data was compared with that of the standard MCIs derived from previous data. Results were statistically described using the independent-samples t-test. The MD dimension of mandibular crown, the inter-canine distance, and the MCI exhibited statistically significant sexual dimorphism. Sex determination using the MCI derived from the current data revealed fairly reliable results. Therefore, MCI is a reliable method for sex determination for Uyghur population, with 0.248 as standard MCI value.

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