Dermatoglyphic patterns as predictors of dental pain perception

Pain perception in an individual in endodontics remains a challenge and dermatoglyphics suggests reliable non-invasive markers are lacking. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the association between pain and dermatoglyphics from 200 patients within 18 to 45 years, diagnosed with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis and symptomatic apical periodontitis assessed using the Heft-Parker Visual Analogue Scale. The arch pattern demonstrated a significantly higher pain score (n=63) (118.84 ± 30.31) compared with whorl (n=57) (93.29 ± 33.01) and loop (n=80) (93.16 ± 32.36) (F=4.183, p=0.020). The arch pattern was associated with the highest pain, suggesting that dermatoglyphic configurations may serve as non-invasive predictors of individual pain thresholds. Thus, data shows the dermatoglyphics association with endodontic pain perception, thereby proving it to be non-invasive approach for predicting individual pain response before treatment.