A Sex Discriminant Function Analysis by the Dental Measurements of Koreans

Moon, Hyung Soon; Hu, Kyung Suk; Park, Sun Joo; Kim, Hee Jin

Abstract

When the bones of a human being are excavated, the teeth in particular can be a great help in distinguishing the sex of the person because they remain unchanged in terms of physical and chemical characteristics. We measured mesiodistal diameters of the crown of teeth and faciolingual diameters of the crown of teeth of 215 adult dental casts (male 109; female 106) and teeth of the 166 cadavers (male 127; female 39). Among these samples, we made use of only measurement values with statistical significance to obtain discriminant functions by discriminant analysis and to verify this study. Fifty one discriminant functions are obtained through several combinations of independent variables so that they can be applied to the bones of human being found in archaeological excavations. Among them, only 34 functions have the statistical significance, showing the correct classification from 64.5 to 89.8%. The other 17 functions are excluded from the discriminant analysis on the basis of Box's M value and Wilks' Lambda value. Among these 34 functions, only 8 functions with high classification accuracy are tested. They show the correct classification from 62.8 to 84.6%. The highest classification accuracy can be achieved when all of the lower teeth (I1 to PM2) are used. The functions from the canine tooth of the lower jaw have high potential usefulness because they can be applied to a variety of materials.