Palatal Rugae Pattern for Gender Identification among Selected Student Population in Chennai, India

Aim: To evaluate the gender differences with regard to the shape of the palatal rugae and identify the most predominant pattern.
Study Design: Cross sectional design
Place and Duration of Study: June 2009 to October 2009 in the Faculty Dental Sciences at Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, India.
Methodology: 135 students aged 17-25yrs participated in the study. Based on gender they were divided into two groups comprising of 62 male and 73 female students respectively. Maxillary impressions made were cast in dental stone were utilised to analyse and study the variation in rugae pattern based on classification by Thomas and Kotze. The data obtained were tabulated and analysed using IBM SPSS 19.0 version. The incidence of specific rugae pattern and its association with gender was analysed using chi-square test.
Results: Straight and curve forms were most prevalent rugae shapes in both the genders. Chi-square analysis for association between rugae shape and gender showed significant differences in total number of rugae and unification pattern of rugae.
Conclusion: Observation of rugae pattern is a useful additional method and complementary technique for human identification, providing a significant contribution for forensic identification.