Latent lip print: effectiveness of particular surfaces in the retrieval of lip print in personnel identification.
Forensic dentistry (odontology) is a vital branch of forensic science that involves the application of dental knowledge, primarily for the identification of human remains. The present application of forensic dentistry includes the estimation of age, sex, species, occupation, and living habit, as well as the identification of individual, domestic violence, or abuse, which aims to enrich and improve forensic dentistry for making it be more useful in forensic medicine even in juridical practice.
Identification of a person is of paramount importance in a medico-legal investigation. The identity of an individual is a distinctive tool that is unique to every individual. It is an important aspect in cases of theft, criminal investigations, and mass disasters. Fingerprints, DNA, and Retina patterns have been using for a long time in the identification of a person. With the advancement in technology, many innovations have come across in the field of forensic science. However, there are many well-known implanted methods like DNA comparisons and Dental fingerprints of human identification, one of the most remarkable emerging methods of human identification is human lips recognition. The peripheral surface of the lip has many elevations and depressions forming a characteristic pattern called lip prints, which are unique to an individual. At present more and more people use protecting lipsticks and permanent lipsticks. With these lipsticks a latent lip print is generated by contact with a surface and, like with the latent fingerprints occur, this latent lip print can be developed. This study was conducted in the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Saraswati Dental College, with an objective to retrieve latent lip prints from various inanimate surfaces like thermocoal plate, bone china, and glass to compare the efficacy of developers i.e. fingerprint powder, Sudan III, Vermillion, and its comparison with standard lipstick prints. Current research assesses the effectiveness of particular surfaces in the retrieval of lip print in personnel identification. Latent lip print was developed on the different inanimate surfaces by pressing the lips against the different vehicles. After collecting samples, a camel hair brush was used to retrieve all three chemicals individually by simply tapping on all three surfaces. Application of chemicals was continued until the print became clearly visible for the study. Developed latent lip print was then compared with the visible lip print. Subsequently, a standard lipstick print was developed from the same subject. All the samples were coded and graded according to the patterns suggested in the literature. The study found Fingerprint powder the best developer and Thermocol plate the best surface. The findings of this study may be beneficial for investigators.