Cranial anatomical structures with high sexual dimorphism in metric and morphological evaluation: A systematic review.

The mastoid process has attracted the attention of several researchers due to its protected position at the base of the skull and the fact that it is relatively compact, in addition to being highly resistant and dimorphic, considered as a gold standard anatomical structure in the determination of the sexual dimorphism of skulls. However, intrinsic and extrinsic factors may influence this anatomical structure over time, providing contradictory and ambiguous data. Therefore, other anatomical structures need to be evaluated concurrently with the mastoid process to provide better accuracy and reliability of skull sexual dimorphism data. Thus, the objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the degree of reliability of the mastoid process to determine sexual dimorphism compared to other dimorphic structures, since there are still no systematic reviews on the subject in the literature. This review follows the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and was recorded in the Prospective International Systematic Reviews Registry (PROSPERO) (CRD 42023395167 Systematic Registry) (CRD420223). The inclusion criteria for selecting the studies were based on the PICO question: "Are skull anatomical structures reliable as alternatives to determine sexual dimorphism compared to the mastoid process?". A literature search for studies was performed in the MEDLINE Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, and Cochrane Library databases. The Kappa agreement presented an approval level of (k = 0.93). This systematic review analyzed 13 ex-vivo studies published between 2008 and 2023. The risk of bias was considered low in 12 of the studies, and high in 1 study. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that even with the limitations of this systematic review, quantitative and qualitative analyses are essential in sexual identification of human skulls, and different anatomical structures can be used as references in addition to the mastoid process, with high reliability and precision, among them the; glabella, frontal profile, superciliary arch, bizygomatic width, maximum cranial length, and nasal height.

A systematic review of photogrammetry as a reliable methodology in gender identification of human skull.

One of the most important parameters in the identification process in forensic Medicine and Dentistry is the determination of sex through the skull, based on morphological and metric dimorphism. Photogrammetry is an affordable option that allows the reconstruction of position, orientation, shape, and size, allowing the performance of quantitative and qualitative analyzes to identify the sex of the individual. However, there are few systematic reviews in the literature validating whether photogrammetry is a reliable methodology for sexual identification using human skulls. Therefore, the objective of the current systematic review was to validate whether photogrammetry of dry skulls is reliable as a method for calculating sex in human identification. This revision follows the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and was recorded in the Prospective International Systematic Reviews Registry (PROSPERO) (CRD420223 Systematic Registry) (CRD420223). The inclusion criteria for selecting the studies were based on the PICO question: "Is test photogrammetry reliable as a method for estimating sex in human identification?". A literature search for studies was performed in the databases MEDLINE Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, and the Cochrane Library. The Kappa agreement presented an approval level of (k = 0.93). This systematic review analyzed 11 ex-vivo studies published between 2001 and 2021. The risk of bias was considered low in 8 of the studies, and high in 3 studies. Based on this systematic review, it can be concluded that the photogrammetry method is viable and reliable in identifying sexual dimorphism.

Delayed Treatment of Traumatized Primary Teeth with Distinct Pulp Response: Follow-Up until Permanent Successors Eruption.

Complicated crown fracture and crown-root fracture with pulp involvement expose dental pulp to the oral environment. The pulp outcome is often unpredictable because the patient and injury which are related to variables can influence the treatment of choice and the prognosis of the case. This report presents the case of a 4-year-old boy with complicated crown fracture with pulp polyp in the primary right maxillary central incisor (51) and crown-root fracture with pulp involvement in the primary left maxillary central incisor (61), which was treated only 3 months after the tooth injuries. The treatment of choice was extraction of tooth (61) due to a periapical lesion with disruption of the dental follicle of the permanent successor and pulpotomy (MTA) of the tooth (51), because the pulp presented signs of vitality. At the follow-up visits, no clinical, symptomalogical, and radiographic changes were observed until the primary tooth's exfoliation. However, at 3-year follow-up, the permanent successors showed hypocalcification and the position of the permanent right maxillary central incisors (11) was altered. Besides the conservative and adequate delayed treatment, the sequelae on the permanent successors could not be avoided.