DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2016.v03i03.001

Pages: 74-80

Abstract: Palatoscopy is the study of palatal rugae pattern and cheiloscopy is study of lip print .The appearance of palatal rugae is constant, as they do not demonstrate changes after the completion of growth of the individual, Lip prints don’t change even after trauma, inflammation and diseases like herpes, thus increasing their utility as a personal identification. The objectives is to compare the uniqueness of rugae pattern and cheiloscopy. To determine the predominant rugae pattern and lip pattern in different gender. The study comprised 50 healthy (25 males and 25 females) subjects of age between 18 and 30 years, who were randomly selected. In this study we used the classification of rugae patterns suggested by Kapali et al. (straight, curved, wavy andcircular), and classification of lip prints according to Suzuki and Tsusuchiashi’s. The most prevalent forms in both genders were curved and wavy type followed by straight and diverging types. Most predominant lip pattern in females were Type IV in upper half of lip and Type I in lower half of the lip, in males both upper and lower half showed a predominant Type I pattern. We believe that rugae pattern and lip pattern can be used as a reliable guide in forensic identification. Our study has proved that chieloscopy and palatoscopy hold the potential to identify the sex and identity of the individual, as they remain stable over time and unique to individual.