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.

Background Mandible is the largest and strongest bone of the face, is very durable, and hence remains well preserved than many other bones. In cases of mass disasters where an intact skull is not found, the mandible may play a vital role in sex determination as it is the most dimorphic bone of the skull. Morphometric analysis of mandibular ramus provides highly accurate data to discriminate sex. This can be accomplished by the use of panoramic radiography which is widely available and is used routinely to assess the mandibular structures. Objective To evaluate and compare the various parameters of the mandibular ramus and to determine the usefulness of the mandibular ramus as an aid in sex determination. Method Orthopantomograms of 140 samples (70 males and 70 females) were collected from the archives and traced manually on matte acetate tracing paper. Various parameters of mandibular ramus were measured on the right and left sides. The obtained measurements were subjected to discriminant function analysis. Result Mandibular measurements on the right side were greater than on the left side. However, only the ramus breath (minimum and maximum) and projective height of ramus were statistically significant (p < 0.05). All the measurements were higher for males than females. F-statistic values indicated that the highest sexual dimorphism was seen with the projective height of ramus and least with minimum ramus breath. Conclusion Mandibular ramus measurements can be a useful tool for gender determination and can be an essential tool in forensic science especially when there is damaged or partially preserved mandibles and may be helpful for medico-legal purpose in Nepal.

Introduction: Age estimation is an important parameter in forensic for identification of individuals. Cameriere developed pulp tooth area ratio as age estimation method in Orthopantomogram. Objective of this study was to use Pulp tooth area ratio of mandibular premolars and derive population-specific equations for age estimation. Materials and Method: A retrospective study was conducted in Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Kantipur Dental College and Teaching Hospital from June 2021 to November 2021 after ethical clearance no 10/021. Total 392, Orthopantomograms of patients aged 17- 50 years with mandibular premolars were retrieved from Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology. The radiographic images were saved as JPEG file and images of premolars were processed using Image J software. Pulp and tooth area were measured and their ratio was calculated. Result: There were 178 males and 214 females with mean age of 22.39 years. Paired T tests showed good intra observer agreement between mandibular premolars. In our study pulp tooth area ratio ranged from 0.0109 to 0.2307 for 45, 0.0456 to 0.2030 for 44, 0.0413 to 0.2239 for 35 and 0.0639 to 0.2204 for 34. Linear regression analysis generated several formulae for all mandibular premolars which was statistically significant. Derived equations were used to test for accuracy in the 40 new samples which showed mean accuracy error between 5.65 to 6.40 years. Conclusion: Derived equations from Pulp tooth area ratio of mandibular premolars can be used for age estimation in young adults from Nepalese population sample.

Background: Diagnosis of odontogenic cysts and tumours requires detailed clinical, radiographical, and histopathological findings. Fourth edition WHO 2017, classification of Head and Neck lesions, reclassified odontogenic cysts and tumours. Objectives: To know relative frequency of odontogenic cysts and tumours according to WHO 2017 classification and to know their clinico-pathological characteristics in selected population of Nepal. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was done in 163 biopsies. Data were obtained conveniently from records of patients diagnosed with odontogenic cysts and tumours from April 2014-2021. Cases with complete clinical details were included whereas non-odontogenic cysts, oral soft tissue, and salivary gland lesions were excluded. Reclassification according to WHO 2017 classification was done. Age, gender, site, clinical presentations, and histological type were analysed using SPSS v.21. Results: In total of 163 biopsies, 120 (73.62%) cases were of odontogenic cysts and 43 (26.38%) cases were of odontogenic tumours. The mean age of occurrence for cysts was 33.35 ± 16.67 years and for tumours was 28.91 ± 13.96 years. Radicular cyst (49/120, 40.83%) and conventional ameloblastoma (23/43 53.48%) were the commonest cysts and tumours. Male (67/120, 55.83%) and female (24/43, 55.81%) predisposition was seen in cysts and tumours. Mandibular middle and posterior region were commonly affected in both cysts (58/162, 35.8%) and tumours (38/53, 71.7%). Conclusion: Increased frequency of radicular cysts and conventional ameloblastoma were appreciated with male predisposition in tumours and female predisposition in cysts. Both cysts and tumours were common in second to third decade of life affecting middle and posterior region of mandible.