Original Article
Year : 2018 | Volume : 3 | Issue : 2 | Page : 86 - 89
An Assessment of Relationship between Dermatoglyphics and Tooth Loss
PJ Archana, Benley George1 , Shibu Thomas Sebastian1, Rino Roopak Soman1, Vinod Mathew Mulamoottil1
Intern, Departments of Public Health Dentistry and 1 Periodontology,
Pushpagiri College of Dental Sciences, Tiruvalla, Kerala, India
Address for correspondence:
Dr. Benley George, E‐mail: georgebenley@yahoo.co.in
Abstract
Background:
Dermatoglyphics are the patterns of the skin ridges on pads of fingers which constitute a person’s fingerprints. Several studies have shown that there exists a relationship between dermatoglyphics and dental diseases and conditions such as dental caries, periodontal disease, and malocclusion. The study aimed to determine the relationship between dermatoglyphics and tooth loss.
Materials and Methods:
The study comprised 100 patients, including fifty dentulous and fifty edentulous participants. The fingerprint patterns of the participants were recorded by a single investigator with a rolling impression technique using duplicating ink on an executive bond paper. Dermatoglyphic patterns of all ten palmar digits were recorded using Cummins and Midlo method. The level of significance was set as P < 0.05.
Results:
The study showed that in dentulous patients, there was a highest prevalence of whorl pattern (50.8%), followed by ulnar loop (45.2%), radial loop (3.2%), and arch (0.8%) patterns. The prevalence of pattern was similar for edentulous patients; however, the prevalence of whorls reduced to 49.8%, ulnar loops to 37.4%, and radial loops to 2.8% whereas the prevalence of arch patterns increased to 10%.
Conclusion:
The whorl pattern was the most prevalent pattern among both dentulous and edentulous patients followed by ulnar loop pattern. The present study showed that ulnar loop pattern was most prevalent in the fifth digit of both right and left hands of edentulous patients whereas the ulnar loop was prevalent in the third digit of both right and left hands of dentulous patients.
Key Words: Dermatoglyphics, fingerprint pattern, tooth loss
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
How to cite this article:
Archana PJ, George B, Sebastian ST, Soman RR, Mulamoottil VM. An assessment of relationship between dermatoglyphics and tooth loss. Int J Forensic Odontol 2018;3:86-9.
