Abstract:
this process as other aspects of the biological profile such as age-at-death, population affinity and stature depend
on accurate sex estimates. While the pelvis and long bones, respectively, take preference over the dentition and
cranium for sex estimation, dentition remains a good proxy for this parameter due to their post-mortem
longevity. The purpose of this study is to examine dental size variation in incisors, canines, premolars and
molars of black, white and coloured South Africans and to use discriminant function statistics (LDA) to develop
population-specific formulae for the estimation of sex. A total of 906 adult crania were analysed. Measurements
included four permanent tooth crown dimensions: maximum mesiodistal, maximum buccolingual and molar
diagonal diameters (mesio-buccal – disto-lingual and mesio-lingual – disto-buccal). Statistical analyses included
TEM, Student’s t-test, ANOVA, and discriminant function analysis (DFA). Dental dimensions are repeatable with
low intra and inter-observer errors ranging from 0.09% to 4.17% and 0.18–6.17%, respectively. Of the 36 dental
variables, 26 were statistically significant for biological sex and 17 for population affinity, and included all tooth
types. Stepwise discriminant functions with a LOOCV provided correct classification rates of up to 86% for sex.
