Anthropometric analysis of palatal rugae pattern, face form and arch form among Indian population at Moradabad, India

Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between the palatal rugae pattern, face form and arch form among Indian population at Moradabad, India. Materials and Methods: Alginate impressions of maxillary arch was made and cast was poured immediately with type III dental stone. A sharp graphite pencil was used for marking outline of the rugae on the cast. A digital caliper was employed for measurement of length of palatal rugae. Palatal rugae were analysed in accordance with Thomas and Kotze classification. Arch form of these models was determined with using 3M Unite template. For assessment of the face form, the subjects were seated in an upright position on the operator chair and the camera was stabilized on a tripod. Then photographs of the frontal profile were taken. These photographs were used for the analysis of the face form. The data was subjected to one way analysis of variance test and Post Hoc test. Results: The average number of primary rugae (10.76%) were found to be more predominant than secondary (2.12%) and fragmentary rugae (1.54%). The most predominant shape of palatal rugae were curved (42.19%) followed by wavy (32.71%), straight (17.37%) and circular (0.92%). Based on the direction of the rugae, forward rugae (54.27%) were found more common followed by backward rugae (37.26%) and perpendicular rugae (0.55%). Base on the unification of rugae pattern, diverging rugae (4.55%) were found to be more common than the converging rugae (1.57%). The most common face form was ovoid (72.4) % followed by tapered (24.4%) and square (3.2%). The most prevalent arch form was ovoid (62.2%) seen followed by the tapered (26.0%) and square (4.8%) arch form. It was found that there was significant correlation between the face form and arch form among the study subjects (p<0.001). However, no correlation was found between the rugae pattern, face form and arch form (p>0.05). In term of arch form and face form, ovoid was the most common followed by tapered and square. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that there was significant correlation between the face form and arch form among the study subjects. However, no correlation was found between the rugae pattern with face form and arch form.