Objective: Though the soft palate presents with varied morphology, very few studies have described its diversity. The aim of our study was to investigate various shapes of soft palate in normal individuals. Methods: The study comprised of 80 individuals requiring orthodontic treatment but without any speech abnormality, whose age ranged from 9 to 31 years. Velar shape was examined on digital lateral cephalograms and was allocated to one of the six patterns as described by You M et al. The difference in proportion of each type and also difference between genders were studied. Results: The normal soft palate can be classified into six types based on its shape. Type 2-rat-tail shape is most common in both the genders. There is no significant difference in proportion of various shapes of soft palate between genders. Conclusion: Soft palate may have variable morphology. Knowledge of varied spectrum of velar morphology may help in successful functional and structural repair in cleft palate cases, and shed some light towards the causes of obstructive sleep apnea and related disorders.

The styloid process is a cylindrical, long cartilaginous bone which arises from the temporal bone in front of the stylomastoid foramen. In the present study, our aim is to investigate the number of asymptomatic styloid process elongation (SPE) in relation to gender, type of elongation and calcification pattern in patients visited to maxillofacial radiology department. We have investigated styloid process using panoramic radiographs taken of 517 patients referred to our hospital. A total of 80 patients (15.47%) had elongated styloid processes (ESPs); 31 patients were female (38.75%) and 49 were male (61.25%). Among the ESPs Type I was the most frequent pattern of SPE (65.85%), then Type II (18.29%) and Type III (15.85%) pattern of elongation. The most frequent pattern of calcification was calcified outline (40.64%) then partially calcified (29.14%), nodular calcification (17.11%) and completely calcified (13.10%). From this study it was concluded that the panoramic radiography can be used for diagnosis of ESP but the norms which explain ESP are needed to be re-evaluated.

Introduction: Odontogenic tumors (OTs) are a heterogeneous group of lesions that are derived from odontogenic apparatus comprised of odontogenic epithelium, ectomesenchyme, and/ or mesenchymal elements. The OTs show marked geographical variation. This study was conducted to analyze the epidemiology and clinicopathological presentation of OTs based on age, sex, and site. Materials and methods:This study was conducted in Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology. Records were reviewed retrospectively for all the lesions of oral cavity from January 2010 to December 2015. A total of 92 lesions were found to be OTs and were classified into benign and malignant tumors. They were further subdivided into three subtypes based on the types of odontogenic tissues involved. These were epithelial OTs (EOTs), mixed OTs (MIXOTs), and mesenchymal OTs (MOTs). Results:Of 92 OTs, 84 were benign (males 48, females 36) and 8 were malignant (male 2, females 6). The most common benign tumor was ameloblastoma (AME) (20), followed by keratocystic OT (KCOT) (17), calcifying EOT (CEOT) (14), compound odontome (OD-Cd) (12), complex odontome (OD-Cx) (10), odontogenic fibroma (OF) (5), odontogenic myxoma

Predilection of lesions to occur at certain specific sites is of great aid in arriving at a logical diagnosis. However tendency of lesions to appear at particular site does not follow a rule book. Enigmatic lesions like ameloblastomas have varied presentation. Here is an unusual case report of a patient who presented to us with an anterior mandibular swelling. Although clinical and radiographic features were suggestive of central giant cell granuloma, histopathological diagnosis was of ameloblastic carcinoma. Ameloblastomas are considered to be benign lesions; however, some can be reclassified as malignant when metastases occur or present with a very aggressive behavior. A detailed deliberation of differential diagnosis of anterior mandibular swellings is also done.

The isolation of human genomic DNA is an important step involved in genetic identity analysis. Also getting optimal quantity and quality of DNA is important as this can alter the results. This consideration is especially important in the field of forensic analysis and genetic identity, where DNA is extracted from extremely small amounts of starting material often recovered from suboptimal storage conditions. Odontological examinations have always been a critical determinant in the search of human identity. Teeth form a natural barrier to exogenous DNA contamination. DNA extraction from dental tissues both hard tissues and dental pulp, has been reported the use of dental pulp, as a source of DNA offers a new paradigm in the process of DNA extraction and its use in forensic analysis. 11 The following procedures elucidate a novel method of extraction of DNA using dental pulp, which offers a cost-effective and attractive procedure, which can be replicated and applied in DNA amplification (PCR).