A Comparative Rugoscopic Study of the Dentate and Edentulous Individuals in the South Indian Population

UNLABELLED This study analyzes the rugae pattern in dentulous and edentulous patients and also evaluates the association of rugae pattern between males and females. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study aims to investigate rugae patterns in dentulous and edentulous patients of both sexes in South Indian population and to find whether palatoscopy is a useful tool in human identification. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four hundred outpatients from Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, were included in the study. The study group was equally divided between the sexes, which was further categorized into 100 dentulous and edentulous patients, respectively. RESULTS The edentulous male showed the highest mean of wavy pattern and total absence of circular pattern while the edentulous female group showed the highest mean of curved pattern and total absence of nonspecific pattern, while dentate population showed similar value as that of the overall population such as straight, wavy, and curved patterns. CONCLUSION The present study concludes that there is similar rugae pattern of distribution between male and female dentate population while there is varied pattern between the sexes of edentulous population. However, the most predominant patterns were straight, wavy, and circular patterns.