Sex Discriminatory Effectiveness Using Combinations of Permanent Teeth

Since males and females consistently differ in tooth-crown size, it is practical to employ crownsize diameters for sexing recent or archaeological material (DITCH and ROSE, Am J Phys Anthrop, 37:61-64, 1972; CORRUCCINI and HENDERSON, J Dent Res, 55: 713, 1976). The question next arises as to the maximum extent of sex discrimination that is possible with crownsize measurements and indices as well as the minimum number of teeth that are effective in stepwise discriminant analysis. We have made use of mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters of the right permanent teeth of 109 white boys and 95 white girls. Odontometric dimensions were measured on an optical digitizing device, the OPTOCOM (VAN DER LINDEN et al, I Dent Res, 51:1100, 1972; MOYERS et al, Standards of Human Occlusal Development 1976, pp 7-10). The measurements, averaged from multiple casts of each individual, were also converted into a mesiodistal-to-buccolingual ratio for each tooth. The resulting values were included in a discriminant analysis (AFIFI and