Sex determination using mandibular ramus flexure: A preliminary study on Indian population

Determination of sex by morphological assessment has been one of the oldest approaches in forensic anthropology. Loth and Henneberg6 introduced a morphological trait “Mandibular Ramus Flexure” for sex identification with a high accuracy of 99% in African Blacks. However, the population specificity of sexually dimorphic features is well known. The purpose of this study is to test the reliability of this trait in Indian population. A total number of 112 adult mandibles (88 males and 24 females) were studied from the Department of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, India. The mandibles were scored according to the original method by two observers in three different sessions. This was done to test inter and intra-observer errors in identifying the trait. The result shows that this trait can be used to diagnose sex with an average accuracy of upto 82%. Though, inter and intra-observer errors were present but could be minimized with extended practice. So, the trait has the potential to be relied upon as a single morphological trait for determination of sex in Indian population.