Morphometric analysis of hard palate in south indian skulls

In the present study 40 dry skulls from the Kasturba Medical College Manipal were examined to obtain the morphometric data of the hard palate. Mean palatal length, breadth and height for the total sample was 49.13mm, 4.04mm, and 0.8mm respectively. The contributions from the premaxilla for the hard palate being 9.4mm and palatine process 39.76mm.The palatine index showed that 40% of the skulls had wide (brachystaphyline),37.5% narrow (leptostaphyline), and 22.5% intermediate (mesostaphyline) palates. The greater palatine foramen was found to be at the level of third molar in 75%, in between second and third molars in 22.5%,and at the level of second molar in 2.5%.The distance from greater palatine foramen to middle maxillary suture was about 14mm.In majority of the skulls (62.5%) only one lesser palatine foramen was found and about 30% of the skulls had two lesser palatine foramina and 7.5% of skulls had 3 lesser palatine foramina. These data will be helpful in comparing these skulls to those from various regions as well as comparing the skulls of different races.