Evaluation of prevalence of fingerprint patterns in patients with oral potentially malignant disorders

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the prevalence of dermatoglyphic patterns amongst patients diagnosed with OPMD and a control group consisting of patients with/without tobacco habit, to prevent the occurrence of disease in susceptible individuals. Materials and Methods: Fingerprints were recorded using the Ink Method by Cummins and Midlo, and were subjected to analysis and statistical evaluation. Results: Fingerprints of a total of 150 patients were recorded amongst which each group i.e. subjects with OPMD, control with habit and control without habit consisted of 50 individuals. There was an equal distribution of whorl and loop pattern whereas arch pattern was found to be significantly less in number overall. Conclusion: Dermatoglyphics can be used for predicting various genetic disorders, when compared to environmental disorders, which are less case specific. In the present study there is no prevalence of individual pattern and it was found to be statistically insignificant, owing to the limited sample size. Studies in the field of dermatoglyphics among OPMD patients’ needs more research in order to draw recognizable and accountable conclusions