Abstract

MORPHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF GREATER PALATINE CANAL IN AGE AND GENDER DETERMINATION – A CBCT RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

*Dr. N. Alice Josephine Rani, Dr. B.G. Harsha Vardhan, Dr. Saraswathi K. Gopal, Dr. M. Ragu Ganesh

ABSTRACT

Aim and Objectives: To assess the length, shape, and course of Greater Palatine Canal & to assess the relationship of the shape of the Greater Palatine Foramen and position of Greater Palatine Foramen from alveolar ridge in three different age groups – i) 20-35years ii) 36-50 years and iii) above 51 years and to gender and to determine the facial type. Materials and Methods: 210 CBCT volumes used. Length of the canal was measured using the most straight-line path through the center of the canal. Manual segmentation tool was used to mark the outlines of the foramen. The path of the GPC was recorded as the descending length tracing lines. Results: Statistically highly significant difference was observed between different age groups for position of GPF (p < 0.001) both on right and left sides. 20-35 years age group presented with larger distance of GPF from alveolar ridge both on right and left sides. Intergroup comparison performed using “Welch’s ANOVA test” revealed a statistically difference between facial types for length of GPC (p < 0.001) on right and left sides. Cluster analysis showed the accuracy for clustering dolicocephalic, 99.25%, mesocephalic, 85.4% and brachycephalics 100%. Cluster analysis showed the accuracy for clustering the position of GPF for the age group 20-35 years, 91.2%, 36-50 years, 95.3% and above 50 years, 99.25%. Conclusion: The variation in morphometrics of GPC observed with respect to age and gender would aid in diverse clinical applications such as surgical planning of grafting procedures, in medico-legal cases and forensics.

Keywords: CBCT, Greater palatine foramen, Greater palatine canal, Forensics.