title: Combined use of frontal sinus and nasal septum patterns as an aid in forensics: a digital radiographic study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Skull radiographic examination is a potentially useful procedure for the personal identification in cases where fragments of skull persist with no likelihood of identification based on dental arch.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study was to determine the uniqueness and reliability of combined frontal sinus (FS) and nasal septum (NS) patterns as observed on posterioanterior (PA) cephalograms for personal identification.
  
  
  METHODS
  The randomly selected 149 digital PA cephalograms taken on Kodak 8000C Digital Panoramic and Cephalometric system were evaluated for patterns of FS and NS. Also the distribution of lobulations, area, and ratio of height/width of FS was calculated. The data obtained was statistical analyzed using Pearson's coefficient correlation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FS symmetry was observed in 78.5% and asymmetry in 7.3% subjects. Bilateral aplasia was noticed in 5.3% and unilateral aplasia in 8.7% of subjects. The total lobulation of FS was noted more in males on both sides while center lobes were observed slightly more in females. The straight NS was maximally seen followed by reverse sigmoid. The mean ratio of width/height of FS was observed more in males and highly significant correlation was observed with both sexes. The mean area of FS was noted more in males. There was significant correlation found between patterns of NS and FS except in right dominated asymmetrical FS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combined use of FS and NS patterns could be used as method for identification by exclusion in forensics.
authors: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Surendera Dental College and Research Institute, Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, India.
authors: Pradhuman
authors: P
authors: Verma
authors: Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Surendera Dental College and Research Institute, Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, India.
authors: Kanika Gupta
authors: KG
authors: Verma
authors: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Surendera Dental College and Research Institute, Sriganganagar, Rajasthan, India.
authors: Rameen
authors: R
authors: Khosa
authors: Department of Orthodontics, Institute of Dental Sciences, Sehora, Jammu, India.
authors: Sandeep
authors: S
authors: Kumar
authors: Department of Periodontics, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara Dental College, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
authors: Suman
authors: S
authors: Basavaraju
authors: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Teerthankar Mahavir University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors: Nitin
authors: N
authors: Patwardhan
keywords: Frontal sinus; Nasal septum; PA cephalograms; Personal identification