Determination of Physical Height Using Clinical Crown Height of Deciduous Teeth.

Background: Dental morphology plays an important role in forensic odontology in identification of deceased individuals. Human teeth can serve as important evidence in identification. Dental morphometrics is a quantitative analysis of form a concept that encompasses size and shape of teeth. Estimation of physical profile from dental morphometrics has been a subject of great interest in forensic odontology. Aim: To assess the correlation between height and the clinical crown length of deciduous maxillary lateral incisor and second molar for female and males.Materials and Method: A pilot study consisting of 21 male and 24 female children between the age group of 3 to 6 years. Informed consent was received from the parent before the measurements were taken. A digital vernier caliper was used to measure the clinical height of the crown and the values were recorded. A tape was used to measure the physical height of the children. Result: The mathematical formula used to compare the physical height is taken from a study conducted by ramanan et al, For male: physical height = 660.290 + 72.970 (55 CL) For female: Physical height = -187.942 + 194.818 (52 CL) And the results were tabulated and the value obtained through formula and the value obtained using the physical heights were found to be approximately equal. Conclusion: Clinical height of the crown is seen to have a relationship with the physical height of the children thus it can play an important role in forensic odontology in identification of deceased individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]