Significance of Recording Dental Morphological Features: An Aid in Personal Identification
Aims: To record selected dental morphological features among students of our medical campus, to correlate type of dental features in males and females and to maintain records of these dental features among the study population as database for personal identification. Methodology: The present cross-sectional survey was carried out among students of Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical Campus, Sangli aged between 18-25 years. The detailed clinical examination was done to record various dental morphological features. Descriptive statistics were employed. Results: Overall, 720 students from the medical, dental and nursing colleges of our medical campus took part in the survey, consisting of 309 (42.91%) males and 411 (57.08%) females. The selected dental features were observed in 13.7% (n=97) of subjects. The most frequent features detected were talon’s cusp & cusp of Carabelli and the least being parastyle, protostylid and fusion. Cusp of Carabelli showed frequent bilateral presence than unilateral. Conclusion: The study findings stipulate an evolutionary reduction in the size of human dentition. The study highlighted the necessity for understanding the forensic value of these dental morphological features and maintenance of dental records as an adjuvant in person identification.