Abstract
Background: Rugoscopy is the study of palatal rugae. Palatal rugae are irregular ridges on the mucosal
membrane projections extending from incisive papilla to anterior part of palate. They are unique to an
individual similar to finger prints. They support in post mortem identification. The aim of this study was to find
out predominant rugae patterns and their variations amongst five different linguistic populations of Pakistan.
Method: A Cross sectional comparative study was conducted at different campuses of Out Patient Departments of Ziauddin Hospital and Al-Zohra Welfare Association, Karachi from July 2016 to January 2017. The
study population of 456 subjects included five Pakistani races namely Balochi, Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi and
Urdu speaking with age groups between 15 to 55 years. The shapes of rugae were evaluated on dental casts
using the Kapali et al’s classification. Chi square test was used for association of qualitative variables. A
p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: There was a significant difference in rugae pattern amongst five ethnicities of Pakistan (p= 0.010).
The most prevalent rugae shape among Punjabi and Pushto was wavy followed by straight and curved
patterns. Among Sindhi and Urdu speaking the most common pattern was wavy followed by curved and
straight rugae pattern. Balochi speaking presented with curved, wavy and divergent patterns. The least
common among all the races was circular rugae pattern.
Conclusion: This study indicates an association between rugae pattern and ethnic groups. This can be used
as an additional tool in forensic identification.
Sara Gardezi, Nuzhat Hassan, Sarwat Memon, Arsalan Mughal. (2018) Rugoscopy In Five Different Ethnic Groups Of Pakistani Population, The Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry, Volume-7, Issue-1.
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