Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Indices to assess malocclusion have been developed to serve a multitude of functions, from rating 'severity of malocclusion', to prioritizing orthodontic treatment for patients. These indices have been established and used, but many with significant inadequacies in their methods. Very few indices quantitatively look at characteristics of a patient to objectively assess treatment difficulty. No current published index uses all of the pretreatment diagnostic records in its assessment. A complete index of malocclusion with the objective analysis of all pretreatment records is needed to accurately quantify treatment need. Recently, an index of malocclusion was developed and validated at IUSD that evaluates a complete set of diagnostic records. Initially this index was found to be a valid measure of patients of non-Hispanic white descent in the permanent dentition. Later it was validated to patients of both mixed and permanent dentitions of various racial profiles. In the present study, pretreatment records (dental casts, intra-oral photographs, extra-oral photographs, panoramic radiograph, and a cephalogram) of 100 patients (48 mixed dentition, 52 permanent dentition) from the Indiana University Graduate Orthodontic Department were evaluated. The patients were selected from a group of completed cases that had been previously scored with the discrepancy index (DI). This data was used to select a group of patients that, as closely as possible, represented a comprehensive range of severity. Thirty-six measurements were scored and combined into a total score representing the new index for the permanent dentition. Thirty-three characteristics were totaled in a similar fashion for patients in the mixed dentition. The scores of the new index were compared to the average examiner scores of four experienced orthodontists. Statistical analysis showed significant correlations of the new index to the average examiner scores, as well as to the DI scores. It is the conclusion of this study that the new IUSD index is a valid measure of severity of malocclusion that correlates well with DI and reflects the rankings of experienced orthodontists.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The positive identification of human remains that are decomposed, burnt, or otherwise disfigured can prove especially challenging in forensic anthropology, resulting in the need for specialized methods of analysis. Due to the unique morphological characteristics of the frontal sinus, a positive identification can be made in cases of unknown human remains, even when remains are highly cremated or decomposed. This study retrospectively reviews 3D CBCT images of a total of 43 Caucasian patients between the ages of 20-38 from the Indiana University School of Dentistry to quantify frontal sinus differences between adult males and females and investigate the usefulness of frontal sinus morphology for forensic identification. Digit codes with six sections and eleven-digit numbers were created to classify each individual sinus. It was shown that 3D CBCT images of the frontal sinus could be used to make a positive forensic identification. Metric measurements displayed a high degree of variability between sinuses and no two digit codes were identical. However, it was also shown that there were almost no quantifiable and significant sexually dimorphic differences between male and female frontal sinuses. This study confirms that sex determination should not be a primary goal of frontal sinus analysis and highlights the importance of creating a standard method of frontal sinus evaluation based on metric measurements.