Morphological assessment of palatal rugae pattern in a Turkish subpopulation

Abstract

The objective of this study was to demonstrate the palatal rugae patterns in a sample Turkish subpopulation. Orthodontic dental casts of 126 patients (66 females and 60 males, 10-22 years old) were analyzed for rugae characteristics. Palatal rugae pattern and number, direction of rugae alignment and shape of incisive papilla were noted. Modified Thomas and Kotze classification was performed to analyze palatal rugae shape patterns. The data were analyzed using Mann Whitney U and Pearson's chi-square tests. The most common rugae shape in the Turkish subpopulation was wavy types (44.2%) of rugae palatina, whereas straight (9.4%) and annular (2.5%) types were the least common. There was a significant difference between sexes for right primary rugae shape (P < 0.05). The mean number of primary and secondary rugae between sexes did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). The most common direction of palatal rugae alignment was horizontal, and droplet shape was the most common type of incisive papilla. All palatal rugae patterns were unique for each subject. The palatal rugae pattern can probably be used as an additional indicator for sex determination and human identification in forensic sciences.