Diversity of human lip prints: a collaborative study of ethnically distinct world populations.

Background: Cheiloscopy is a comparatively recent counterpart to the long established dactyloscopic studies. Ethnic variability of these lip groove patterns has not yet been explored.

Aim: This study was a collaborative effort aimed at establishing cheiloscopic variations amongst modern human populations from four geographically and culturally far removed nations: India, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Nigeria.

Greater palatine foramen--key to successful hemimaxillary anaesthesia: a morphometric study and report of a rare aberration.

Introduction: Accurate localisation of the greater palatine foramen (GPF) is imperative while negotiating the greater palatine canal for blocking the maxillary nerve within the pterygopalatine fossa. The aim of this study was to define the position of the foramen relative to readily identifiable intraoral reference points in order to help clinicians judge the position of the GPF in a consistently reliable manner.

Methods: The GPF was studied in 100 dried, adult, unsexed skulls from the state of Maharashtra in western India.