Is Palatal Rugae Pattern a Reliable Tool for Personal Identification following Orthodontic Treatment? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Archana A. Gupta,
Supriya Kheur,
Abdulrahman Alshehri,
Wael Awadh,
Zeeshan Heera Ahmed,
Shaikh Mohammed Abdul Feroz,
Samar Saeed Khan,
Shazia Mushtaq,
Harisha Dewan,
Zohaib Khurshid,
Saranya Varadarajan,
Govindarajan Sujatha,
Vishnu Priya Veeraraghavan,
Shankargouda Patil
Affiliations
Archana A. Gupta
Private Dental Clinic, Pune 411033, India
Supriya Kheur
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Dr. D. Y. Patil Dental College and Hospital, Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune 411018, India
Abdulrahman Alshehri
Division of Orthodontics, Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia
Wael Awadh
Division of Orthodontics, Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia
Zeeshan Heera Ahmed
Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Shaikh Mohammed Abdul Feroz
Department of Prosthetic Dental Science, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia
Samar Saeed Khan
Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences, Division of Oral Pathology, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia
Shazia Mushtaq
Dental Health Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Harisha Dewan
Department of Prosthetic Dental Science, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia
Zohaib Khurshid
Department of Prosthodontics and Dental Implantology, College of Dentistry, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Saranya Varadarajan
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sri Venkateswara Dental College and Hospital, Chennai 600130, India
Govindarajan Sujatha
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sri Venkateswara Dental College and Hospital, Chennai 600130, India
Vishnu Priya Veeraraghavan
Centre of Molecular Medicine and Diagnostics (COMManD), Department of Biochemistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai 600077, India
Shankargouda Patil
Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences, Division of Oral Pathology, College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia
Background: To qualitatively and quantitatively review the reliability of palatal rugae as a tool for personal identification following orthodontic treatment. Methods: Cross-sectional retrospective studies assessing the accuracy of matching palatal rugae pattern pre- and post-orthodontic treatment were identified from PubMed and SCOPUS databases. The title and abstract of the articles identified in the search were screened for potential duplicates and relevancy to the topic of interest. The full text of the articles selected in the screening was analyzed using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quantitative analysis of the studies representing coherent data in terms of age and treatment choice was performed using RevMan software. Results: Out of 64 screened articles, only 18 articles fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in the systematic review. Out of these 18 articles, only 3 studies had data compatible with the quantitative analysis. Significant changes were noted in lateral first rugae in transverse bilateral direction (p = 0.02) and between second and third lateral rugae of the left side in the anteroposterior direction (p = 0.04). Despite the dimensional changes, observers in most studies were able to accurately (>90%) match the palatal rugae pre- and post-orthodontic treatment through visual observation. Conclusion: The accuracy of the visual matching, despite the significant dimensional changes, indicates that morphology could have potentially been the major matching factor. Thus, a combination of dimensional and morphological evaluation of the palatal rugae could potentially increase the accuracy of personal identification.
