Analysis of total lip score system and total groove score for gender identification: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Endless ink and pixel space have been spent to validate the use of cheiloscopy classification systems in the field of identification. It is becoming evident that lip-print patterns may provide indications about an individual's gender, race, occupation, habits, blood type, and paternity. Over the course of time, much data have been collected on a substantial population in this field. In the present study, we strive to see how well a noble total lip scoring (TLS) system works in identifying a person's gender among the College of Dentistry students. We also quantified the total groove score (TGS) and compared it with each quadrant for better authentication of the set study design.

Materials and method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 60 dental students (30 males and 30 females), with an age range of 18-30 years. Lip prints were recorded using the writing pad method and subsequently digitalized by capturing the images using Adobe Photoshop CS 6 Extended Version, counted and summed up, quadrant-wise, in both upper and lower lips. The TLS and TGS between males and females were statistically calculated using the Jamovi project.

Results: The mean value for TLS for males (n = 402; SD ± 92.1) is higher than that for females (n = 348; SD ± 86.1). The correlation matrix applying a non-parametric test for non-continuous data using Spearman's ratio inferred a statistically significant correlation (-0.354) with a P-value of 0.005 for TLS, whereas a correlation (-0.162) of TGS with gender was not so significant with a P-value of 0.217.

Conclusion: Our study proved the uniqueness of applying TLS as a novel approach to gender identification. The study revealed that males had a statistically higher lip score than females.

Clinical significance/future implications: Being unique, our study inferred the importance of TLS, which needs to be explored in detail for applying, evaluating, and validating its accuracy in forensic research that can help for errorless investigations as full-proof evidence in court.