The diagnostic accuracy of the I 3M to assess the legal age of 18 years has already been tested in several specific-population samples. The left lower third molar has been extensively used for discriminating between minors and adults. This research aimed to compare the usefulness of lower third molar maturity indexes, from both left and right side (I 3M L and I 3M R), in samples originating from four distinct continents in order to examine possible differences in their accuracy values. For this purpose, a sample of 10,181 orthopantomograms (OPGs), from Europe, Africa, Asia and America, was analysed and previously scored in other studies. The samples included healthy subjects with no systemic disorders with both third molars and clear depicted root apices. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test for left and right asymmetry did not show any significant differences. Data about sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratio and accuracy were pooled together and showed similar results for I 3M L and I 3M R, respectively. In addition, all these quantities were high when only the I 3M R was considered to discriminate between adults and minors. The present referable database was the first to pool third molar measurements using panoramic radiographs of subjects coming from different continents. The results highlighted that both I 3M L and I 3M R are reliable indicators for assessing the legal age of 18 years old in those jurisdictions where this legal threshold has been set as the age of majority.

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Objective: Determine sexual dimorphism precision via palatal vault morphometric analysis in craniums sourced from the Laboratorio de Investigación Forense del Equipo Forense Especializado (EFE) de Ayacucho del Ministerio Público - Perú. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional design consisting of a sample of 43 skulls with pre-established biological gender, (24 males and 19 females). Sexual dimorphism was established by means of the method proposed by Meera Jacob and co., based on palatal width and length measurements, after which the palatal index was calculated, establishing the method’s precision and accuracy. The inferential analysis was made with a level of significance of 5% through the T student test, Shapiro Wilk and Pearson’s coefficient. Results: Palatal width had a mean of 3.43 (+0.31cm) for males and 3.62 (+0.25) for females and in palatal length a mean of 5.07 (+0.44) cm. for males and 4.79 (+0.41) cm. for females is established; on palatal index, 100% of the male skulls correspond to hard narrow palate and on females 73.7% to narrow, 21% to intermediate and 5.3% to wide. Furthermore, it was determined that there were statistically significant differences between width and length of palatal vault for both genders, and a discriminating analysis formula was proposed. Conclusion: Morphometric analyses of palatal vaults establish an 83.72% precision on the estimation of sexual dimorphism.