Lip prints: Role in forensic odontology

Identification plays a major role in any crime investigation. The pattern of wrinkles on the lips has individual characteristics like fingerprints. Cheiloscopy is a forensic investigation technique that deals with identification of humans based on lips traces. In the past decades, lip-print studies attracted the attention of many scientists as a new tool for human identification in both civil and criminal issues. The lip crease pattern is on the vermilion border of the lip, which is quite mobile and lip prints may vary in appearance according to the pressure, direction and method used in making the print. It concludes by enlightening the readers with the fact that the possibilities to use the red part of lips to identify a human being are wider than it is commonly thought.

The challenges faced by man in early days to provide the identity of an individual. Identification of humans is prerequisite for personal, social and legal reason. The invention of finger print in the past century is the only reliable means of human identification. In individuals, the finger print patterns are distinctive and permanent and hence considered as a tool for identification. However, the awareness of the advanced techniques in crime detection has alarmed the criminals for taking sufficient precautions like the use of gloves. In such circumstances, the identification of criminal using accurate methods like fingerprint analysis fail to establish a positive identity. Thus investigator can rely on adjuvant technique such as cheiloscopy as supportive evidence.

The pattern of wrinkles on the lips has individual characteristics as fingerprints. The wrinkles and grooves on the labial mucosa (called sulci labiorum) form a characteristic pattern called lip prints, the study of which is referred to as Cheiloscopy. It can be defined “as a method of identification of a person based on characteristic arrangements of lines appearing on the red part of lips or as a science dealing with lines appearing on red part of the lips".

The lip prints being uniform throughout the life and characteristics of person can be used to verify the presence or absence of a person from the crime, provided there has been consumption of beverages, drinks, usage of cloth, tissues or napkin etc., at the crime scene. However, studying in depth and establishing further facts and truth in lip prints will certainly help as useful evidence in forensic dentistry.