Relation between Dermatoglyphicsand Early Childhood caries in a group of Egyptian children

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease with genetic base. Early prediction for high caries risk children can help in postulating an effective caries preventive measure. Dermatoglyphics is a promising valuable tool for preliminary examination in conditions with a speculated hereditary base. The aim of the investigation was to decide whether fingerprints as a genetic marker could be involved in the occurrence of dental caries. Sixty children aged between 36 to 71 months, divided into two groups of 30 children each. They were chosen from the outpatient clinic of the pediatric dentistry department at Pharos University. They were divided into two groups according to dental caries incidence: caries-free children and children with ECC and dmfs score > 5.
The handprints of every child were taken and the type of dermatoglyphic pattern on fingertip of every digit was noted. The dmfs scores were recorded. SPSS software and test of proportions were used for the analysis. It was found that fingerprints of caries-free children demonstrated mostly loops pattern while whorls pattern was prevailing in the caries group.
The difference in atd angle (angle is a part of the palm denoting the relative position of three triradii) revealed a significant difference between the two groups where caries group had the most minimal mean atd angle and the least total ridge count (TRC). This could be a cost-effective tool, that could be used in many field studies.