Journal de recherche médico-légale

Rugoscopy: A Diagnostic Appurtenance for Malocclusion or just a Forensic Aid? - A Pilot Study

Abstract

Priyanka Kapoor, Ragini and Harneet Kaur

Background: Palatal rugae (PR) routinely used for forensic identification of individuals, have limited use in orthodontics as a stable reference for cast superimpositions. PR shape gets established early in intra-uterine life and remains stable thereafter, thus its correlation with different occlusal relations may aid in early interception and prevention of malocclusions. Aims: Identification of characteristic features of PR in different classes of malocclusion (Angle’s Class I, II and III) and to explore its potential as an adjunctive aid for categorizing malocclusions. Objective: To explore the potential of PR as an adjunctive aid for categorizing malocclusions. Materials and methods: PR in pre-treatment study casts of 66 patients (age 12-26 years) demonstrating Class I (type1 and type2), Class II div1, Class II div2 and Class III malocclusions were traced. The number, pattern, orientation and strength of rugae both on left and right side of mid-palatal raphe were determined and statistically analysed with non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test for different categories of malocclusions. Results: Class II div2 patients showed largest number of primary, secondary and fragmentary rugae, although it was not statistically significant. PR in all malocclusions showed a predominantly curvy pattern but in Class I and Class III patients on left side, forking-diverging type was mainly seen. Horizontal orientation of PR was characteristically absent in Class II div1 patients. Strength of rugae became strong to weak from first to third primary rugae. Conclusion: This pilot study provides evidence of a distinct pattern of PR in Class I and Class III patients and largest number in Class II div2 cases but to ascertain its statistical significance, further research may be conducted with a larger sample size.