The prevalence of the palatinus torus discovery as an individual characteristic in identification
Dian Artanty (a*), Myrtati Dyah Artaria (b*)
a) Forensic Science Study Program, Post Graduate Studies, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya
* dian.artanty-2018[at]pasca.unair.ac.id
b) Department of Anthropology, FISIP, Universitas Airlangga, Jl. Airlangga 4-6 Surabaya 60286, IndonesiaSurabaya, Indonesia.
* myrtati.artaria[at]fisip.unair.ac.id
Abstract
Torus palatinus is a protrusion of bone or exostosis which is generally found in the middle part of the palate in the maxilla. Not all individuals have a torus palatinus so this can be used for identification in forensic anthropology. The purpose of this study was to find out the prevalence of the torus palatinus from the Javanese and Papuan crania in the Anatomy and Histology Laboratory, Medical School, Universitas Airlangga. The sample consisted of 101 crania of males and females, age of 20 to 80 years. We observe the presence or absence of the torus palatinus in each cranium. Based on our observation, we found 1 cranium (1%) which had a torus palatinus. This individual is a Javanese Deuteromalayid male aged 50 years old. We conclude that the prevalence of the torus palatinus in this Javanes and papuan sample is only 1%. We do not encounter any torus palatinus in the crania from West Papua.
Keywords: torus palatinus; forensic identification; prevalence; osteoscopy; Deuteromalayid
Topic: Law, Police and Forensic