title: Establishing identity using cheiloscopy and palatoscopy.
abstract: Establishing a person's identity can be a very difficult process. Dental, fingerprint and DNA comparisons are probably the most common techniques used in this context, allowing fast and secure identification processes. However, since they cannot always be used, sometimes it is necessary to apply different and less known techniques. In this paper, the authors describe two unusual techniques: cheiloscopy and palatoscopy. It is known that due to their special features, both lip grooves and palatal rugae can be used successfully in human identification. This paper reviews the techniques of cheiloscopy and palatoscopy, and describes the different classifications and their advantages and limitations.
authors.affiliation: Dentistry Faculty of Oporto University, Portugal. inesmcaldas@netcabo.pt
authors.forename: Inês Morais
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Caldas
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Magalhães
authors.forename: Américo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Afonso
mesh_terms: D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008046:Lip / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010159:Palate / Q000033:anatomy & histology*