Morphometric and Morphological Study of Mental Foramen in the Malaysian Population: Anatomy and Forensic Implications

Abstract

Introduction: The mental foramen is present on either side of the body of the mandible bone. This foramen transmits mental vessels and nerves. In forensic anthropology, mental foramen may be important for differentiating sex, estimating age and identifying various races based on morphology. The main aim of the present study was to determine the position, shape and diameter of the mental foramen according to sex, age and race by postmortem computed tomography in the Malaysian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 79 dentulous patients (48 males, 31 females) from 3 age groups (18-30 years, 31– 50 years, 51-74 years) were selected for this study, and ten parameters were observed for each mandible. The parameters were divided into two morphological and eight morphometric parameters. The morphometric parameters were measured by using Osirix MD Software 3D Volume Rendering. Results: Results showed that mandibular body length and height were significantly greater in males than in females by independent t-test. (p< 0.05). However, the mandibular body height was found to decrease significantly with age in both sexes by one-way Anova. It was observed that the shape of mental foramen was 45.6% oval and 54.4% rounded. About 44.3% of them were in line with the longitudinal axis of the second premolar tooth. Conclusion: It was concluded that mental foramen may be used for identification purposes, particularly for sex, age and race determination.

Sex determination by morphometric analysis of the mental foramen from digital panoramic radiography

“…It was reported by Ghouse et al, Chandra et al, Rani et al and Naroor et al that there was no significant difference between the measurements taken from the right and left sides of the mandible of the subjects involved in their studies (5,9,12,20) . In addition, Apaydin et al and Alias et al were among the authors who conducted the study on only one side of the mandible (3,26) .…”

Perbedaan Usia Terhadap Posisi Foramen Mentalis Panoramik di RSGM TNI AL Yos Sudarso Makassar Tahun 2018

“…Dibandingkan dengan anatomi lain yang ada di mandibula, foramen mental biasanya dipilih karena kestabilan dan daya tahannya. (9,10) Orthopanthomography (OPG) atau radiografi panoramik merupakan teknik radiografi yang banyak dipergunakan untuk menentukan rencana perawatan dan diagnosa pada praktek dokter gigi. Radiograf panoramik menampilkan struktur fasial yang termasuk diantaranya adalah rahang atas, rahang bawah, dan persendian temporomandibular.…”

“…Dalam bidang forensik kedokteran gigi, foramen mentalis juga dapat membantu mengidentifikasi Victim (Korban) yang tidak diketahui identitasnya, karena dapat berperan penting dalam menentukan usia dari Victim tersebut. (1,3,9,19) Penelitian ini dilakukan di RSGM Ladokgi TNI AL Yos Sudarso pada tahun 2018 dengan total sampel yaitu sebanyak 46 sampel. Sampel dikelompokkan menjadi 3 kelompok usia (10-19 tahun, 20-44 tahun, dan 45-59 tahun).…”