DERMATOGLYPHICS IN ORAL POTENTIALLY MALIGNANT DISORDERS

Dermatoglyphics offer at least two major advantages as an aid to the diagnosis of medical disorders: (1) the epidermal ridge patterns on the hands and soles are fully developed at birth and, thereafter, remain unchanged for life; (2) scanning of the ridge patterns or recording their permanent impressions (i.e., prints) can be accomplished rapidly, inexpensively,non-invasive ,good patient compliance , early screening tool for various diseases also helps in gene mapping and without any trauma to the patient hence, it helps in identification of individual as well as disorders. .The role of dermatoglyphics is established for forensic purposes as well as numerous medical disorders with obscure etiology; however , their role as a diagnostic tool in various oral precancers and cancer still remain debatable with want of further research although fewer studies conducted in this regard have given initial convincing results. The relevance of dermatoglyphics is not for diagnosis , but for prevention by predicting a disease , and not for defining an existing disease , it is for identification of people with a genetic predisposition to develop the disease.