Abstract
Aim: The aim of the present study is to determine the lip prints among undergraduate dental students.
 Introduction: Human identification is a universal process based on scientific principles mainly involving fingerprinting. Uniqueness is a strong point used in the analysis of fingerprints to convince the court of law. Even the lip prints are unique for an individual and can be used for identification purposes. Thus lip prints can be used to verify the presence or absence of a person at the scene of crime. The aim of this study is to analyse lip prints among undergraduate dental students.
 Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 50 females. The materials used were lipstick, a brush for applying the lipstick, and magnifying lens. Lipstick was applied evenly on the vermilion border of the lips and the pattern was studied.
 Results: This study of lip print pattern of 50 females revealed the following observation:
 No two lip prints matched each other establishing the uniqueness of lip prints and type 2(branched Y shaped grooves) is most commonly seen.
 Conclusion: This study showed that lip prints are unique for an individual and hold potential promise as a supplementary tool in forensic odontology.
Highlights
Fingerprints, postmortem reports and late DNA Fingerprinting have been successful in personnel identification in the field of forensic science
Research studies and information regarding the use of lip prints as evidence in personnel identification and criminal investigation in forensic dentistry are very much scanty but exist as a methodology in forensic dentistry
The study of lip print pattern of 50 females revealed the following observation: 8% of the students are in the age 17, 48% of the students are in the age 18, 32% of the students are in the age and 12% of the students are in the age of (Fig. 5).26% of the students showed type 1 lip print,8% of the students showed type 1’ lip print, 64% of the students showed type 2 lip print and 2% of the students showed type 5 lip print (Fig. 6)
Summary
Fingerprints, postmortem reports and late DNA Fingerprinting have been successful in personnel identification in the field of forensic science Just like these methods lip prints can be instrumental in identifying a person and can be used to verify the presence or absence of a person at the scene of crime [1,2]. The wrinkles and grooves on labial mucosa called as sulci labiorum forms a characteristic pattern called as lip prints and the study of which is called cheiloscopy. This is unique to an individual just like fingerprints [3] and does not change during the life of the person [4]. Lemoyne snyder in his book homicide investigation written in 1950 mentions the possible use of lip prints in the identification of the individual [5]
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