Populational Variations of Cheiloscopy Patterns: A cross-sectional observation pilot study

Area of Science:

• Forensic Science
• Anthropology

Background:

• Lip prints are unique biometric identifiers with potential applications in human identification.
• Cheiloscopy, the study of lip prints, examines patterns for forensic and identification purposes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate potential differences in lip print patterns (cheiloscopy) between individuals with and without parafunctional oral habits.
• Oral habits examined include smoking, vaping, wind instrument use, and asthma inhaler use.

Main Methods:

• A blinded, cross-sectional observational pilot study involving 63 participants.
• Lip prints were collected using lipstick and adhesive tape, then analyzed manually using the Suzuki and Tsuchihashi system.
• Lip print quadrants were classified based on the presence or absence of oral parafunctional habits.

Main Results:

• A total of 252 lip print quadrants were analyzed, with 30.2% from individuals with habits and 69.8% without.
• Type II patterns were the most prevalent across all analyzed samples.
• No statistically significant differences in lip print pattern classification were found between the groups with and without parafunctional oral habits (p=0.366).

Conclusions:

• The study found no statistically significant correlation between parafunctional oral habits and lip print patterns.
• Further research into populational variations is recommended to enhance the utility of cheiloscopy in human identification.