title: A comparative rugoscopic study of the dentate and edentulous individuals in the South Indian population.
abstract: This study analyzes the rugae pattern in dentulous and edentulous patients and also evaluates the association of rugae pattern between males and females.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to investigate rugae patterns in dentulous and edentulous patients of both sexes in South Indian population and to find whether palatoscopy is a useful tool in human identification.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred outpatients from Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, were included in the study. The study group was equally divided between the sexes, which was further categorized into 100 dentulous and edentulous patients, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The edentulous male showed the highest mean of wavy pattern and total absence of circular pattern while the edentulous female group showed the highest mean of curved pattern and total absence of nonspecific pattern, while dentate population showed similar value as that of the overall population such as straight, wavy, and curved patterns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study concludes that there is similar rugae pattern of distribution between male and female dentate population while there is varied pattern between the sexes of edentulous population. However, the most predominant patterns were straight, wavy, and circular patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Hi-Tech Dental College, Pandara, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751025, India.
authors.forename: Jagdish Prasad
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Rajguru
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine & Radiology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Kalinganagar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751003, India.
authors.forename: Satya Ranjan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1994-543X
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Misra
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Hi-Tech Dental College, Pandara, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751025, India.
authors.forename: Nagaveni S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Somayaji
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ragas Dental College, Uthandi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600096, India.
authors.forename: K M K
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Masthan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Ragas Dental College, Uthandi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600096, India.
authors.forename: Aravindha N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Babu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Kalinganagar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751003, India.
authors.forename: Neeta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mohanty
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D009055:Mouth / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000473:pathology*