Background: Personal identification is one of the key areas in the forensic sciences. A combination of different simple and easily available methods such as lip prints and fingerprints can be used for human identification. Our objective was to analyze the types of lip print and fingerprint patterns in dental students and to identify if they were associated with gender. Methods: This was a cross-sectional comparative study conducted in 150 students (male: female 1:1), aged between 17 to 34 years, from Kantipur Dental College. The lip print and fingerprint patterns were recorded and interpreted based on the Tsuchihashi and Michael Kucken classification respectively. Results: The most common lip print pattern was intersected type (44, 29.3%), while the least common was undetermined type (7, 4.7%). The intersected lip pattern (23, 30.7%) was most prevalent in males and the vertical pattern (28, 37.3%) was most prevalent in females (p < 0.05). The loop-type (82, 54.7%) fingerprint pattern was the most common while the arch-type (19, 12.7%) was the least common.  The most common fingerprint pattern in both sexes was loop pattern (38, 50.7%). Conclusions: The type of lip print pattern holds potential promise as a supplementary tool for gender identification. However, fingerprint pattern was not associated with gender.

Introduction: Maxillary lateral incisor is a common congenitally missing tooth in the oral cavity. Maxillary lateral incisor is also the most common varying tooth in form than any other tooth. The objective of the study is to estimate the prevalence of congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisors and peg laterals in patients receiving orthodontic treatment. Materials & Method: This is a cross sectional retrospective study carried out among 204 orthodontic patients. Panoramic radiographs taken during the diagnostic procedure of orthodontic treatment was used to confirm the presence or absence of lateral incisors. The presence of peg laterals was determined by dental casts. Result: Prevalence of missing maxillary lateral incisors and peg laterals was found 2.5% and 3.9% respectively. Prevalence of missing lateral in male was 5.7% while among female no missing laterals were observed. Prevalence of peg laterals in male and female was 1.1% and 6% respectively. Among the missing lateral incisors, prevalence of bilaterally missing lateral incisors was 60% while prevalence of both right and left unilateral missing laterals was 20%. Among the peg laterals, bilateral peg laterals were present in 50% patients, followed by left unilateral 37.5% and right unilateral 12.5% peg laterals. Conclusion: The present study shows higher prevalence of peg laterals than missing lateral incisors. Prevalence of missing lateral incisors was higher in male and prevalence of peg laterals was higher in female. Prevalence of bilaterally missing laterals and bilateral peg laterals was higher than unilateral presentation.

Introduction: Smokers are found to have higher salivary thiocyanate (SCN) concentration compared to normal non-smokers. This elevated level of the SCN in the saliva of smokers may be responsible for oral cancer risk among smokers through nitrosation process. The objective of the study is to estimate salivary thiocyanate levels in tobacco smokers and non-smokers and correlate the levels of thiocyanate with cytomorphological changes in oral mucosa.  Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study conducted among 40 non-smokers and 40 smokers in outpatient department of Kantipur Dental College. Salivary thiocyanate level was estimated from the saliva sample. Cytological atypia, cytomorphometric changes and micronuclei frequency was estimated from smear from buccal mucosa.  Results: Mean salivary thiocyanate level in smokers (3.16 Mm/l  1.61 Mm/l) was higher compared to non-smokers (0.95Mm/l  0.54 Mm/l) which was statistically significant (P<0.001). There were also more atypical changes in smoker than that found in nonsmokers. The mean nuclear cytoplasmic ratio was also higher in smokers compared to nonsmokers which was statistically significant (P<0.001). Similarly, the micronuclei frequency in smokers (1.79   0.76) was also found higher compared to micronuclei frequency in non-smokers (1.24   0.74) which was statistically significant (P=0.002). However, the correlation between salivary thiocyanate level and cytomorphometric changes was weak. Conclusions: Estimation of salivary thiocyanate level and cytological changes are noninvasive, painless and prove to be an efficient tool in screening a large population as well as in aiding motivation of individuals for withdrawal of tobacco smoking.