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Sex and age determination of human mandible using anthropological parameters and TCI and Kvaal methods: study of a Serbian medieval sample

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the study was to test the efficacy, reliability, and applicability of the Kvaal and Tooth Coronal Index (TCI) age determination techniques, and then to compare them with each other, as well as with the conventional anthropological age and sex determination techniques.

Methods

The analyzed material originates from the medieval necropolis of the Vinča—Belo brdo site. During the research, 60 periapical (PA) and 30 orthopantomographic (OPT) images were analyzed. On each analyzed tooth, age assessment was performed using both TCI and Kvaal techniques. The obtained values of dental estimated age were compared with age estimated by anthropological analysis, and the deviations between the estimated and chronological age were analyzed in relation to the assessment technique, type of dental radiograph, tooth group, sex, and age.

Results

The mean error between TCI and the osteological method was 8.44 (SD = 7.56, Min = 0.169, Max = 36.4) and between Kvaal and the osteological method was 7.71 (SD = 5.57, Min = 0.133, Max = 26.7). The average value of age recorded by TCI method was 32.5 years and by Kvaal method was 34.7 years. There was no statistically significant difference based on the two radiographic methods, gender, individual teeth, or tooth group pairs. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between age and the error present.

Conclusion

Gender determination based only on the mandible has a high correlation with the anthropological gender determination. The Kvaal method and the TCI method have proven their efficiency, reliability, and applicability. Significant correlation has been observed between dental and anthropological age and sex determination methods.

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Data availability

Data available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

Serbian National Project III 47001, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Republic of Serbia.

Funding

This research was supported by Serbian National Project III 47001, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Republic of Serbia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dentistry, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Nikola Trivunov, Bojan Petrović, Mirjana Subašić, Bojana Milekić & Ivana Popov

  2. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Čika-Ljubina 18-20, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Sanja Milutinović, Milica Šipovac & Sofija Stefanović

Authors
  1. Nikola Trivunov
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  6. Bojana Milekić
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Contributions

Conceptualization—BP and SS; data curation—NT, MŠ, BM, SM, and MS; formal analysis and funding acquisition—BP and SS; investigation—BM, NT, SM, IP, MS, and BMS; methodology—NT, SS, BP, and BM; resources—BP, BM, and MS; software—MS, NT, BP, and BM; supervision—SS and BP; validation—NT, SM, IP, MS, and BM; visualization—NT and MS; writing original draft—NT, SM, IP, MS, BM, BP, and SS; writing review and editing—SS, BP, and BM.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bojan Petrović.

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The authors have no competing interests as defined by Springer, or other interests that might be perceived to influence the results and/or discussion reported in this paper.

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This research was approved by Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine Novi Sad.

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All authors contributed to refinement of the study protocol, reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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Trivunov, N., Petrović, B., Milutinović, S. et al. Sex and age determination of human mandible using anthropological parameters and TCI and Kvaal methods: study of a Serbian medieval sample. Surg Radiol Anat 44, 1485–1494 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-022-03031-5

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