A Morphological Study of Tongue and its Role in Forensics Odontology

Abstract

Forensic odontology is a branch of dentistry that mainly deals with the identification based on individual's oral structures. The tongue is a unique structure that presents both geometric shape as well as physiological texture information that may be potentially useful in identity verification. The present research was taken over the people to study and analyse the morphological shape and texture of the tongue and demonstrate their importance as an aid in human identification. For the study, clinical examination, photographs and impressions were taken of the tongue. The undertaken study showed a qualitative result among different sex and age groups. It can be opined that the human tongue promises to deliver a level of uniqueness in shape, texture and is suitable for the use in identity recognition.

The Unrevealed Truth about the Tongue in Forensic Identification

“…The field of forensic odontology scrutinizes various dental evidence, and it confirms that individuals have some unique characteristics which can be used for evidence purpose (5,7) . The dorsal surface of the tongue holds prominent morphological features, thereby difficult to forge and can therefore be used in forensic odontology for sex determination (2,5) . A photographic image of the lingual aspect along with the lingual impression, together can aid in forensic identification along with other proved methods (2) .…”

“…Forensic odontology is gaining great interest in today's world due to presence of innovative and efficient identification systems (3) . The purpose of introducing the use of tongue prints in forensic odontology is due to the uniqueness of the tongue (5) . In the present study, On the contrary, there are also similar kinds of studies conducted.…”

“…In the present study, On the contrary, there are also similar kinds of studies conducted. One of the studies includes shape and texture of the tongue as criteria, which showed results based on the age groups (5) . The other study includes criteria like shape of tongue and presence of fissures on the tongue.…”

“…In this study, females presented with deep fissures while the males presented with shallow fissures (3) . Because of the uniqueness of the tongue, several studies have been undertaken to prove the use tongue prints in biometric authentication along with fingerprints and iris (5,6) .…”

“…The shape of tongue of an individual is unswerving and the physiological texture of tongue is immutable (2) . In respect of shape and surface textures, everyone has unique pattern of tongue (5) . The lingual morphological aspects are scrutinized with the help of alginate moulding technique which is the most reliable method for recording minute details of tongue; this in turn helps the forensic investigator to identify the person (2) .…”