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

The stature or height of an individual is useful for assisting in forensic identifications. Teeth can act as a valuable tool for stature estimation when only the skull is available. Carrea's index estimates the stature of a person from the dimensions of lower anterior teeth. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the Carrea's index in an Indian population. Data was collected from 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 (Arch and Chord) were made with a 'divider caliper'. A statistically significant difference between the types of dental arch was obtained for both males and females with regards to the different dental alignments; 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 reduced the success rates when compared in terms of both sex 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 sexes, and for both right and left side of the arch. However, the method was not reliable for hemiarches with a diastema.