ramus can be used to differentiate between male and female strongly expresses univariate sexual dimorphism . when skeletal sex determination is considered , metric analyses on the radiographs are often found to be of superior value owing to their objectivity , accuracy , and reproducibility . after both of these bony areas , mandible remains next in the human which will also help us in the identification of age , sex , and race . humphrey et al . emphasized that almost any site of mandibular bone deposition , or resorption , or remodeling for that matter , seems to have a potential for becoming sexually dimorphic . hence , mandibular condyle and ramus , in particular , are generally the most sexually dimorphic as they are the sites associated with the greatest morphological changes in size and remodeling during growth . among various radiographic technique the orthopantomography ( opg ) is still used as one of the measure in determination of sex wherein , the morphology of mandibular ramus is studied . hence , this study was taken to understand the sexual dimorphism , using digital opg . this study aims to determine the usefulness of mandibular ramus as an aid in sex determination . this study aims to determine the usefulness of mandibular ramus as an aid in sex determination . a short retrospective study was conducted of sixty males and sixty females , using orthopantomographs which were taken using kodak 8000c digital panoramic and cephalometric system ( 73 kvp , 12 ma , 13.9 s ) . patients with a history of extraction , fracture , and any other severe developmental disturbances leading to variation in the size of mandible were excluded from the study . all the mandibular ramus measurements will be carried out using carestream health , inc , 2010 , kodak 8000c digital panoramic and cephalometric system ( 73 kvp , 12 ma , 13.9 s ) with master view 3.0 software . the ethical clearance obtained from the institution review board . the following variables were measured using mouse - driven method by moving the mouse and drawing lines using chosen points on the digital panoramic radiograph [ figures 1 and 2 ] . mandibular ramus measurements with five variables mandibular ramus measurements of female patient on orthopantomograph the sex could be determined from calculations using the equations given below : ( table 1 ) 10 dmale : 185.622 + 1.361 ( max . ramus breadth ) + 1.087 ( min.ramus breadth ) + 2.253 ( condylar height )  0.717 ( projective height of ramus ) + 0.081 ( coronoid height ) dfemale : 161.761 + 1.276 ( max . ramus breadth ) + 0.948 ( min.ramus breadth ) + 2.220 ( condylar height )  0.753 ( projective height of ramus ) + 0.063 ( coronoid height ) 
 maximum ramus breadth : the distance between the most anterior point on the mandibular ramus and a line connecting the most posterior point on the condyle and the angle of jawminimum ramus breadth : smallest anterior  posterior diameter of the ramuscondylar height / maximum ramus height : height of the ramus of the mandible from the most superior point on the mandibular condyle to the tubercle , or most protruding portion of the inferior border of the ramusprojective height of ramus : projective height of ramus between the highest point of the mandibular condyle and lower margin of the bonecoronoid height : projective distance between coronion and lower wall of the bone . maximum ramus breadth : the distance between the most anterior point on the mandibular ramus and a line connecting the most posterior point on the condyle and the angle of jaw minimum ramus breadth : smallest anterior  posterior diameter of the ramus condylar height / maximum ramus height : height of the ramus of the mandible from the most superior point on the mandibular condyle to the tubercle , or most protruding portion of the inferior border of the ramus projective height of ramus : projective height of ramus between the highest point of the mandibular condyle and lower margin of the bone coronoid height : projective distance between coronion and lower wall of the bone . the data were analyzed by the discriminant function analysis using fischer exact test [ table 1 ] . mean measurements in males and females descriptive statistics shows mean values were higher in males compared to females . f - statistic values indicated that highest sexual dimorphism was seen with projective height of ramus and least with minimum ramus breadth . maximum ramus breadth , condylar height , and projective height of ramus were statistically significant with p < 0.05 as shown in table 2 . descriptive statistics sex was accurately determined in 32 cases out of sixty male mandibular measurements with prediction accuracy rate of 53% , and sex was accurately determined in 36 cases out of sixty female mandibular measurements with an accuracy rate of 60% [ table 3 ] . the data were analyzed by the discriminant function analysis using fischer exact test [ table 1 ] . mean measurements in males and females descriptive statistics shows mean values were higher in males compared to females . f - statistic values indicated that highest sexual dimorphism was seen with projective height of ramus and least with minimum ramus breadth . maximum ramus breadth , condylar height , and projective height of ramus were statistically significant with p < 0.05 as shown in table 2 . descriptive statistics sex was accurately determined in 32 cases out of sixty male mandibular measurements with prediction accuracy rate of 53% , and sex was accurately determined in 36 cases out of sixty female mandibular measurements with an accuracy rate of 60% [ table 3 ] . determination of sex by morphological assessment has remained as one of the oldest approaches in forensic anthropology and medico - legal examinations . the method may vary and depend on the available bones and their conditions . the identification of sex is of significance in cases of mass fatality incidents where bodies are damaged beyond recognition . when entire adult skeleton is available for analysis , sex can be determined up to 100% accuracy ( pelvis ) . however , in cases of mass disasters where usually fragmented bones are found , sex determination with 100% accuracy is not possible , and it depends largely on the available parts of skeleton . however , in cases where intact skull is not found , mandible may play a vital role in sex determination as it is the most dimorphic bone of skull . anthropometry of the face and intraoral regions can help in the field of forensic odontology when common forensic data are unavailable . the disadvantages opg technique is unequal magnification and geometric distortion , which causes many problems . these distortions are the result of the horizontal movement of the film and x - ray source . the position of the movement object is within the focal trough , the size , and shape of the resultant images keeps changing . panoramic radiographic technique remains as quite sensitive to positioning errors because of relatively narrow image layer . objects which are outside the focal trough are blurred , magnified or reduced in sizes which are sometimes distorted . a study conducted by kambylafkas et al . concluded that the evaluation of total ramal height is reliable , and an asymmetry of more than 6% is an indication of atrue asymmetry using panoramic radiograph . in this study , asymmetry noted was 7% using panoramic radiograph . found mandibular ramus height to be the best parameter in their study , with 75.8% accuracy . in our study , mandibular ramus height found to be the best parameter with statistically significant with p = 0.005 . a study conducted by saini , et al . showed that coronoid height possessed the best potential for sex determination on indian people with the accuracy of 74.1% , and the combination of it with minimum ramus breadth , maximum ramus breadth , and/or mandibular ramus length will show significant sexual dimorphism with an overall accuracy of 80.2% . in this study , all five variables that is maximum ramus breadth , minimum ramus breadth , condylar height , projective height of ramus , coronoid height showed prediction accuracy of 53% for males and prediction accuracy of 60% for females . another study conducted by indira et al . on mandibular ramus measurements were subjected to discriminant function analysis . each of the five variables measured on mandibular ramus using orthopantomograph showed statistically significant sex differences between sexes , indicating that ramus expresses strong sexual dimorphism . the mandibular ramus demonstrated greatest univariate sexual dimorphism in terms of minimum ramus breadth , condylar height , followed by projective height of ramus . in our study , highest sexual dimorphism was seen with projective height of ramus and least with minimum ramus breadth . maximum ramus breadth , condylar height , projective height of ramus was statistically significant with the p < 0.05 . shivaprakash and vijaykumar conducted a study in diagnosing in the sex by observing the mandibular ramus posterior flexure . sex was accurately determined in 44 cases out of 55 male mandibles with an accuracy rate of 80% , and sex was accurately determined in 35 cases out of 49 female mandibles with accuracy rate of 71% . in our study , sex was accurately determined in 32 cases out of sixty male mandibular measurements with prediction accuracy rate of 53% and sex was accurately determined in 36 cases out of sixty female mandibular measurements with accuracy rate of 60% . the mandibular ramus height can be considered another valuable tool in gender determination with the help of opg . however , further studies with larger sample and less magnification errors are needed to be taken up in future .
aims and objectives:(1 ) to determine the usefulness of mandibular ramus as an aid in sex determination . 
 ( 2 ) to evaluate anteroposterior | superioinferior angle of mandibular condyle.materials and methods : a retrospective study was conducted using orthopantomographs of 60 males and 60 females , which were taken using kodak 8000c digital panoramic and cephalometric system ( 73 kvp , 12 ma , 13.9 s ) . 
 the age group ranged between 18  45 years . 
 mandibular ramus measurements were carried out using master view 3.0 software . 
 the measurements of the mandibular ramus will be subjected to discriminant function analysis.results:maximum ramus breadth , minimum ramus breadth , condylar height , projective height of ramus coronoid height were calculated for both the sexes differently with the formula & analyzed with discriminant function analysis using fischer exact test . 
 the p value was statistically significant with the p value < 0.05 for the following parameters max . 
 ramus breadth , condylar height and projective height of ramus.conclusion:mandibular ramus measurements can be a useful tool for gender determination .