Assessment of maxillary sinus in gender determination– A CBCT study

Introduction: Determination of gender is an important aspect of forensic odontology. CBCT measurement of maxillary sinuses can be useful in determination of gender. Aim: To assess the sexual dimorphism using dimensions of maxillary sinus in CBCT images. Objectives: 1) To determine whether there are morphological and morphometric variations among genders. 2) To assess which the most reliable predictor of sex among width, length & height. Materials and Method: The present study was conducted in Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology. Retrospectively 40 CBCT scans of bilateral maxillary sinus were retrieved from the database after excluding the subjects with pathologies of maxillary sinus like cyst, tumours and fractures and images with errors or artefacts obscuring maxillary sinus. Two independent observer measured three distances of the maxillary sinus (width, length, height) in axial and coronal view. Results: Parameters of Maxillary Sinus for male were greater than females. Width and height was better predictor than length with 60% accuracy than 50% accuracy for length. Conclusion: We suggest that CBCT measurement of Maxillary Sinus can be used as supplementary tool for gender determination in forensic science.