The Use of Odontometric Traits Improves the Chances of Sex Identification in a Contemporary Sicilian Human Population

Determining the sex is one of the most important steps in the procedure to identify the unknown person. Teeth are a potential source of information on sex. The research is performed on a total of 187 specimens from the contemporary cemetery in Palermo (Sicily). It is acknowledged that the adult hipbone (oscoxae) is by far the best non-population-specific indicator for reliable sex determination of adults. Sex is determined on the basis metric criteria of the pelvic bones as described by Murrail et al, as well as odontometric features. Sexual dimorphism of the odontometric features is tested by the Students't test method. Determining the sex on the basis of pelvic features is possible in 61.5% of the cases. Combining the pelvic and odontometric features it is possible to determine the sex in 90.9% of the cases. In cases where ante-mortem data on sex are not available it is best to combine a number of different methods in order to raise the level of confidence and the level of success in sex determination. The aim of this study is to offer a chance to increase the diagnosis of sex in the absence of pelvic or cranial data.