Introduction: Palatoscopy is the study of palatal rugae pattern to establish the identity of a person. The palatal rugae are permanent and unique to each person and can establish identity through discrimination (via casts, tracings, or digitized rugae patterns). In addition, rugae pattern may be specific to racial groups facilitating population identification (which may require postdisasters). Hence, they can be used in postmortem identification provided an antemortem record exists.
Aim: To determine the palatal rugae pattern and to assess the predominant palatal rugae pattern in Indian and Tibetan (in Mundgod Taluka, Karnataka) populations.
Materials and methods: The impressions of the maxillary arch were made for a total of one hundred adults comprising fifty Indian and fifty Tibetan populations aged between 20 and 40 years, and the dental cast was made using dental stone. The rugae were highlighted by a sharp graphite pencil on the cast under adequate light and a magnification lens. Rugae patterns were assessed using Thomas and Kotze and Kapali et al. classification.
Results: Total number of palatal rugae in Indian population (461) was more than Tibetan population (351). Moreover, Indian population showed predominantly wavy (43.60%) rugae pattern, whereas Tibetan showed curved (38.2%) rugae pattern.
Conclusion: This suggests that there is a difference in the rugae pattern between Indian and Tibetan populations. Hence, palatal rugae pattern can be used as one of the methods in determining the ethnicity.
Keywords: Forensic; Indian population; Tibetan population; identification; palatal rugae.