A Novel Sex Determination Method: Geometric Morphometrics Of Maxillary Bone Via Ct Scans In Malaysia

Sex determination is a crucial aspect of forensic anthropology that reduces potential matches in human identification. The maxilla bone is a resilient bone that contributes to the formation of facial structures, yet it is understudied in the forensic field. Geometric morphometrics (GM) is an advanced 3-dimensional (3D) shape analysis method that is promising in assessing bone morphology. The study aimed to investigate sexual dimorphism of the maxilla bone by applying GM on the computed tomography (CT) scan of Malaysian samples. This was a cross-sectional study that involved 413 specimens with an equal proportion of males and females (50.8% and 49.2% respectively) of the adult age groups. A total of forty-five 3D landmarks were placed on the maxillary bone images from the CT scans. Procrustes ANOVA revealed significant differences in centroid size and shape of the bone between males and females. There were 128 principal components (PC) responsible for the shape variations. A high classification accuracy of >80% was observed by discriminant function analysis (DFA). The morphological changes of the maxilla bone in morphing technique showed different shape between males and females. In conclusion, there was a significant sexual dimorphism in the maxilla bone between males and females with high classification accuracy. By applying this method to the maxilla bone, human identifications could be assisted for a more precise result.