Tongue and its ties: Posterior tongue width in gender estimation – A forensic gratuity

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Human identification is one of the challenging areas that man has been confronted with. The forensic odontologist deals with human identification based on unique features of the oral cavity. The human tongue is sheathed within the oral cavity, where it lies protected against the external atmosphere, just as the palatine folds. It is can be easily showed for inspection but at the same time be protected from the external environment. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to examine the uniqueness of tongue morphology and find out parameters to estimate gender of an individual using the same. METHODOLOGY: A total of 30 subjects (15 girls and 15 boys) were taken for this study whose tongue were examined, photographed and alginate impression were taken to create a database of tongue morphology. RESULT: The mean posterior width of the tongue was higher among the males in both cast as well as photographs.