Human Identification Using Palatal Rugae: Manual Method

Human identification is a challenging task in forensic odontology. Dental evidence can be used as the sole method of identifying a deceased person. In circumstances where identification of an individual by fingerprint or dental record comparison is difficult, palatal rugae may be considered as an alternative source. Palatal rugae have been shown to be highly individual and consistency in shape throughout life. The present study evaluated the use of palatal rugae patterns for forensic identification using manual method.

In the present study the impression of maxillary arch of 100 individuals were taken. Two casts were prepared for each individual using dental stone. Five evaluators including 2 dentists, 2 forensic medical experts and 1 general surgeon were asked to match the casts. Each evaluator was asked to match the 2 sets of100 casts i.e. 100 casts which were designated by numbers and their 100 counterparts which were designated using codes.

4 evaluators got 100% accurate matching and 1 evaluator got 98% accurate result.

The present study supports the fact of individuality of the rugae. Manual method has given very good results to support the individualization of rugae. Through our study we feel that palatal rugae patterns will be of great use in the future of forensic odontology.