Cheiloscopy patterns in individuals with and without parafunctional oral habits: A cross‐sectional observation pilot study

Purpose Lip prints are unique and have potential for use as a human identifier. The purpose of this study was to observe possible cheiloscopy differences of individuals with and without parafunctional oral habits such as smoking, vaping, playing a wind instrument or using an asthma inhaler. Methods This IRB approved blinded cross‐sectional observation pilot study collected lip prints from 66 individuals, three of which were excluded. Participants cleansed their lips, then lipstick was applied to the vermillion zones of the upper and lower lips. Adhesive tape was applied to the lips and prints were transferred to white bond paper for viewing purposes. Each set of included lip prints was divided into quadrants and dichotomized into a group of those with an oral parafunctional habit or with no such habits. Each quadrant sample was then manually analysed and classed according to the gold standard Suzuki and Tsuchihashi system. Results A total of 252 dichotomized lip print quadrants (with habits n = 76, 30.2%, and without habits n = 176, 69.8%) were analysed. Type II patterns were the most common for examined quadrant samples; however, no statistically significant differences (Pearson's chi‐squared test, p = 0.366) were observed between pattern classifications of samples with and without parafunctional oral habits. Conclusions There is no statistically significant difference of lip print patterns between individuals with and without parafunctional oral habits. Further research on populational variations is needed for cheiloscopy to aid in human identifications.