title: A study of the palatal rugae pattern among male female and transgender population of Bhopal city.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Transgenders are highly disadvantaged people, deprived of adequate opportunities of earning a respectable living. The forensic literature has emphasized on two genders, male and female, the existence of a third gender (Transgenders) is almost negligible in the literature, and this makes it compulsive to determine their identity through forensic approaches at the time of disasters. Previous studies have demonstrated that no two palatal rugae pattern are alike in their configuration and this unique feature has led us to undertake a study to establish individual identities using palatal rugae pattern.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare the palatal rugae pattern among male, female, and transgender population of the Bhopal city.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was cross sectional in nature and conducted on a convenience sample of 148 subjects selected from Bhopal city, Madhya Pradesh. The study involved 49 males, 51 females, and 48 eunuchs in the age range of 17 to 35 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Maxillary impression using alginate impression material was made and the cast was prepared using die stone on palatal area and dental stone as a base. The palatal rugae pattern was assessed on the basis of number, length, shape, direction, and unification.
  
  
  METHODS
  One way ANOVA was used for comparing the mean values between different genders. The multiple pairwise comparisons were done with the Bonferroni post hoc correction. The statistical significance was fixed at 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistically significant difference with regard to some parameters like number of rugae, fragmentary rugae, wavy rugae, curve rugae, forwardly directed, and backwardly directed rugae between transgender and other gender groups were present.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The difference in the parameters of the palatal rugae pattern among the transgender population and the other gender group is attributed to be the genetic makeup and sexual dimorphism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Eshani
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Chandrashekhar
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sudheer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hongal
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, People's Dental Academy, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Nilesh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Torwane
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, AIIMS, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Pankaj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, People's Dental Academy, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Priyesh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mishra
keywords: Forensic identification; palatal rugae; rugae pattern; sex assessment; transgender