Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to analyze the palatal rugae pattern in the native population of Riyadh province in Saudi Arabia to understand whether the rugae patterns are unique to these ethnic origins and determine whether these palatal rugae patterns can be used as an adjunct aid in biometric human identification. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 200 participants within the age group ranging from 18 to 35. Their rugae patterns were analyzed macroscopically (Calcorrugoscopy) to record the length, shape, direction, and unification of the rugae pattern. Findings : It was found that females had a more significant number of palatal rugae (4.83 1.05) as compared with males (4.30 0.93) on the right side, while a reverse trend was seen in terms of the mean length of rugae where males (1.100.20) showed longer palatal rugae on the left side than females (0.970.17). This difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between the mean length of rugae on either side of the palate (p=0.001) with longer rugae on the left side (1.04.20) than the right side (0.97 0.16). Furthermore, a statistically significant difference based on sex was found in straight, curved, convergent, and branched palatal rugae, in the rugae oriented towards the left side of the palate (p=0.001) and in the unification of rugae on the palate’s left side (p=0.001) based on sex. Novelty: The natives of Riyadh had a unique characteristic of unification and lesser number of rugae compared to other ethnic groups in Saudi Arabian Population which helps in differentiating them from other ethnicity. Keywords: Ethnic identification; Palatal rugae; Unification; Saudi Arabia
Highlights
Palatal rugae are mucosal folds located intraorally behind the incisive papillae on either side of the median palatine raphe
Sixty-eight participants were dropped out of the study due to the following reasons -14 participants did not give informed consent,15 participants personal data was incomplete, participants had a mixed ethnic origin, 6 participants developed an allergy during impression making, participants study casts were excluded for rugae assessments as void incorporation, lead to deformed dental casts
We propose that the unification of rugae can be used for ethnic identification of the Saudi Arabia population
Summary
Palatal rugae are mucosal folds located intraorally behind the incisive papillae on either side of the median palatine raphe. Since the palatine rugae are a stable landmark; they may play an essential role in clinical dentistry. Rugae are taken as stable reference landmarks in orthodontics for the superimposition of pre-and post-treatment cephalometric tracings. They are crucial for phonetics as they provide tactile sensation for proper articulation, influence treatment plans while fabricating complete dentures, and diagnose submucosal clefts in the palate [1]. ’Palatal rugoscopy’ is emerging as a potential tool for human identification obtained by inspecting the palatal rugae inside the mouth [2]. If unique patterns of rugae could be identified for different ethnic groups, they would identify their ethnicity
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