Anthropometric evaluation of the maxillary sinus in subjects with complete dental system and complete edentulism based on gender, on cbct images

Abstract

Introduction: Today, it has been determined that women and men are different from each other in anatomical, physiological, and many other aspects. These differences can be useful in many cases, including identification. Considering that we are facing with increased rate of crimes and felonies, and there are different costly diagnostic methods in the field of identification, and few studies have been conducted in this field, as well as the limitation of 2D images and the complex structure of sinus, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography (gold standard) are used as the methods for depicting the true anatomy of sinus; However, their use has been limited due to high dose, lack of public access and high cost, and finally, since it seems that the loss of teeth is the only factor that can affect the dimensions of sinus, we decided to carry out a study with the aim of investigating the anthropometric analysis of maxillary sinus in subjects with complete dental system and complete edentulism based on gender, on CBCT images. Materials and methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 70 patients (39 women and 31 men) were selected among available samples from the Maxillofacial Radiology of the Faculty of Dentistry of Khorasgan Azad University in Isfahan. The CBCT images were taken from samples with high resolution and voxel dimensions of 0.1 mm and with exposures of 85 kV and 21 to 35 mAh (according to patient’s size) and were examined by SIDEXIS software with an accuracy of 0.01 mm. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS ver.25 at two descriptive and inferential levels. Findings: in this study, 55.7 of the images were related to women and 44.3 were related to men. Also, 57.1 of them were related to dentate subjects and 42.9 were related to completely edentulous subjects. The gender had an impact on the cephalocaudal dimension (p-value = 0.017) and mediolateral dimension (p-value = 0.036), and is greater in men than women. Dental status had an impact on the orbital floor bone (p-value = 0.002), mediolateral dimension (p-value = 0.003), anteroposterior dimension of right maxillary sinus (p-value = 0.042) and soft tissue thickness (p-value = 0.042). These sizes are greater in dentate subjects than edentulous subjects. Gender had a significant effect on the volume of maxillary sinus (p-value = 0.021). Dental status had a significant effect on the volume of maxillary sinus (p-value = 0.022). The mean volume of maxillary sinus in men is higher than women, and in subjects with complete dental system is higher than subjects with complete edentulism. It is also higher in men in both groups of dentate and edentulous than women. Discussion and conclusion: Anthropometric analysis of the sinus by the CBCT not only helps in identification of corpses, but also provides us with useful information about the relationship between dental system and sinus dimensions. © 2020 Sheikhi et al.