Estimation of stature in a young adult Indian population using the Carrea's index

Abstract

Estimation of stature is an important tool in forensic examination especially in unknown, highly decomposed, fragmentary and mutilated human remains. Carrea’s index estimates the stature of a person from the dimensions of lower anterior teeth. The aim of this study was to check the reliability of the Carrea’s index in Indian population. Data was collected from the plaster models of 125 undergraduate students for examination, each hemiarch was considered separately equaling 250 inferior hemi-arches, which were divided according to the dental alignment into normal, crowded and diastema and the measurements were made with a ‘divider caliper’. A statistically significant difference between the types of dental arch was obtained for both males and females where normal dentition (94.03%) obtained the highest success rates for males and crowded dentition (87.87%) for females. Statistically significant differences were also found between the types of arches for both right and left side (p<0.001; p=0.004). The presence of diastema on the other hand, reduced the success rates when compared in terms of both gender and side of the arch. It was concluded that the Carrea´s index is a reliable method for height estimation in arches with normal and crowded dentitions, useful for both genders, and for both right and left side of the arch. However, the method was not reliable for hemiarches with diastema.