India has been a meeting point of different races and tribes since time immemorial. The majority of the Indian population falls within the linguistic groups of Dravidians and Indo-Aryans. Further, Dravidians are concentrated in South India. They speak a series of closely related languages such as Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu. It is known that ethnic background is strongly related to socioeconomic position, which has been shown to indirectly influence oral health-related quality of life. 1 According to the literature, there is ethnic diversity in bodily habits and craniofacial features, including the morphology and morphometry of the mandible and maxillary bones, and upper airway measurements. [2][3][4][5][6] These can have an influence on oral health, oral microbiota, periodontal health, and even the biology of cancer. [7][8][9] Exfoliative cytology, one of the cytopathology branches, is a quick and simple procedure. It is the microscopic examination of exfoliated cells from an epithelial surface. 9,10 There is a paucity of data assessing the cytomorphometric characteristics of buccal smears among the South Indian population.Definitive baseline data could not only be helpful for gender identification but also for screening patients with habits and other risk factors.
| MATERIAL S AND ME THODSAfter obtaining ethical clearance from the scientific review board of Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals (IHEC/SDC/ OPATH-2105/22/658), apparently healthy subjects (n = 30 males