PALATAL RUGAE PATTERN IN GENDER IDENTIFICATION - A FORENSIC STUDY

Background: Palatal rugae pattern is reasonably unique to an individual and remain stable throughout lifetime. It can serve as an important tool in forensic identification particularly when other regular methods of identification become difficult.Aim: To evaluate the palatal rugae pattern between both gender in terms of Number, Shapes and Length on right and left sides among different age groups.Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study comprising of 60 patients which were divided into four groups according to their age. Each of the four groups consisted of 15 participants of whom 30 were males and 30 were females. All the patients meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were randomly selected and alginate impressions of the hard palate were taken and casted by dental stone. The data were assessed based on the Thomas and Kotze classification (1983) and the rugae patterns were delineated using sharp graphite pencil under adequate light and were analysed macroscopically.Statistical analysis: The obtained values were analysed using Student’s t- test for evaluation of gender difference in rugae patterns and ANOVA was applied for determination of age groups using SPSS version 20.0 software.Results: Palatal rugae of right side showed higher prevalence and curved rugae in females than in males and the finding is statistically significant. The mean number of rugae showed a slight decreasing trend with increasing age with more curved rugae and size of the palatal rugae is slightly increased up till the middle age group, as growth ceases thereafter.Conclusion: The present study reveals significant gender and age difference in palatal rugae pattern. Thus, palatal rugae appear to possess features of an ideal forensic identification parameters such as uniqueness, postmortem resistance and stability, provided antemortem record exists.