Prevalence of two variants of permanent mandibular second premolars

Abstract

Background: Dental identification is an important identification tool in Forensic odontology. Permanent Mandibular second premolars, though gener bicuspids, are of two types, the 2 cusp and 3 cusp variants. There is a difference of opinion regarding whether ethnicity influences dental morphology or not. Aim: To determine the prevalence of two different occlusal morphological Permanent mandibular second premolars in Indian population. Methods: This study was undertaken from the students of Saveetha Dental College, Chennai. A total of 100 students were randomly examined for cuspalvariations and groove patterns of Permanent mandibular second premolars. Results: Thestudy revealed that the predominant cusp pattern wastwo cusp pattern and the predominant groove pattern was Y shaped (43.5%). The predominance in the combination of cusp and groove pattern was 2U (27.5%). Among males, the predominant cusp pattern was bicuspid (61%) and the predominant groove pattern was Y shaped (45%). Among females, the predominant cusp pattern was bicuspid (51%) groove pattern was Y shaped (41.9%). Conclusion: Dental identification is an important identification tool in forensic odontology. It may be concluded that variation in degree of expression and frequency of mandibular second premolars of different populations is different, which may help in forensic identification.