Cheiloscopy in individuals with Down syndrome and their nonsyndromic biological siblings.

The study aimed to carry out a comparative analysis between the lip print patterns in individuals with Down Syndrome and their nonsyndromic biological siblings. This was a cross-sectional blind study using an inductive approach and extensive direct observation procedures. A total of 68 cheiloscopic charts, named cheilograms, were divided into two groups (n=34), as follows: G1, including Down Syndrome individuals; and G2, including their nonsyndromic siblinggs. The convenience sample was selected in the city of João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. The following features were evaluated in eight labial regions called sub-quadrants: oral commissures (downturned, horizontal and upturned); lip thickness (thin, medium, thick and mixed); and labial grooves (I - complete vertical; I '- incomplete vertical; II - bifurcated; III - criss-cross; IV - reticular; or V - undefined). The data were analyzed by paired Student's t test and McNemar's Chi-square, with a 5% significance level. Most Down Syndrome individuals were found to have downturned oral commissures in 73.5% of cases, while their siblings showed a predominance of horizontal commissures in 73.5% of cases (p=0.009). There was no statistically significant difference for lip thickness between groups. In the analysis of labial groove patterns, Down Syndrome individuals (G1) showed a significant prevalence of the type I pattern (52.2%) as compared to their nonsyndromic siblings (30.1%) (p =< 0.001). Due to the tendency of having vertical labial groove patterns and downturned commissures, Down Syndrome individuals present cheiloscopic differences in relation to their nonsyndromic biological siblings, which suggests that syndromic genetics influences the development of these features. However, this may imply in a reduced potential of cheiloscopic identification due to the low divergence of labial phenotypes among Down Syndrome individuals.

Stature estimation by Carrea's index and its reliability in different types of dental alignment.

Stature is a measurable feature of the body, useful in human identification, which may include or exclude an individual from a missing persons list. The aim of this study is to analyze the Carrea´s index for stature estimation in dental arches with normal dentition, crowding and diastema. Plaster casts of 51 students of the Federal University of Paraíba were analyzed. Each hemiarch was divided according to the dental position, and the elements were measured with divider and digital calipers. Considering the normal and crowded dentition, the Carrea´s index presented a satisfactory success percentage, between 72.2% and 95.2%, with no statistically significant difference between sexes or between right and left sides. The presence of diastema reduced the number of matches to less than 62.5%. It was concluded that the Carrea´s index is a reliable method for height estimation in arches with normal and crowded dentitions, useful in males and females, and in the right and left sides. However, the method was not efficient in hemiarches with diastema.