Comparative study of palatal rugae shape in two samples of Egyptian and Saudi children

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate differences in the shape of the individual palatal rugae in two population samples of Arabian children from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and develop discriminant function to identify the populations based on rugae shape. A total of 152 stone casts (80 from Egyptian and 72 from Saudi children), equally distributed between genders aged 6-8 years were examined for rugae shape (straight, wavy, curved, circular, unification and cross-link) and their incidence was recorded. Association between rugae shape and gender as well as rugae shape and population were tested using chi-square and discriminant function analyses using SPSS 13 statistical package. Curved and wavy were the most prevalent rugae shape in both groups, followed by straight rugae. Circular, converged and diverged unifications were few in number, while cross-link rugae were not observed in Saudi children. No significant gender differences were observed. Chi-square analysis for association between rugae shape and population groups showed significant differences in curved, wavy, cross-link, converged and diverged unification. Three rugae shapes; wavy, diverging unification and cross-link contributed to the discriminant function which enabled population identification. It was concluded that palatal rugae shape revealed significant differences between the two Egyptian and Saudi populations and also confirmed previous reports of lack of gender dimorphism. Discriminant function analysis allowed differentiation of the populations and it is inferred that discrete variables such as rugae shape are better suited for that purpose than continuous variables such as rugae length. addition, rugae pattern may be specific to racial groups facilitating population identification, which may be required in different events 1,4,5) .Palatine rugae are irregular, asymmetric ridges of mucous membrane extending laterally from the incisive papilla and the anterior part of the median palatal raphe 5) . Physiologically the palatal rugae are involved in the oral swallowing and help to improve the relationship between food and the taste receptors in the dorsal surface of the tongue 6) , also participated in speech and suction in children 7) .Palatal rugae pattern, shape and characteristics are not affected by the eruption of the teeth or their loss, but sometimes their lateral parts adjacent

A pilot- cross sectional study of palatal Rugae shape and direction among Egyptians and Malaysians

“…These findings are inconsistent with Abdellatif et al, (2011) who reported that diverging rugae were significantly higher in number among Saudi populations while converging rugae were significantly higher among Egyptians. Saudi populations possessed (27) divergent compared to (8) convergent ones while Egyptians had (15) and (23) divergent and convergent rugae respectively.…”

“…Concerning the females, the Egyptians had significantly greater line shaped rugae while the Malaysians had significantly greater sinous shape rugae than the Egyptians. The results of this current study partially agree with Abdellatif et al (2011) who observed that both sexes of Egyptian and Saudi volunteers had insignificant differences regarding rugae shape. Surprisingly, they noted that Egyptians had significantly higher curve shaped rugae than Saudis who showed significantly higher sinous shaped rugae.…”

Morphological study of rugae palatinae in Sudanese Nubians

“…This finding indicates the need for describing/identifying other shapes and conducting a larger scale study. The findings of this study confirm previous findings with respect to Egyptian and Saudi children [1], Saudi adults [9], and Indians [13,21,26] where wavy and curved rugae are the most common shapes followed by straight rugae. The results are also consistent with those reported for Australian Aborigines and Caucasian populations as they, too, are found to have a higher prevalence of wavy-and curved-shaped rugae [14].…”

“…That is, converging shapes are found to be sexually dimorphic and higher in females [9]. However, shapes did not show any sexual dimorphism among Jordanians [19], Rwandans [11], Egyptians or Saudi children [1]. This may be attributable to the classification used regarding the shapes used in the study, as it indicates that non-specific rugae are sexually dimorphic while converging unified rugae differ significantly between males and females in Sudanese Nubians and Saudi adults [9].…”

Is Palatal Rugae Pattern a Reliable Tool in Individual Identification in Forensic Odontology Medicine: Descriptive Study in Najran Region

“…Our results showed that presence of the unification rugae pattern in the Saudi population with the diverging form is more prevalent than the converging form. On the contrary to the results reported by (Abdellatif et al, 2011) who compared unification forms of palatal rugae between the Egyptian and Saudi children and stated that, converging rugae were more frequent in Egyptians, while diverging rugae were more frequent in Saudi children.…”