Morphological Variation of the Human Tongue in an Ethnic Population of Swat: Implications for Forensic Personal Identification
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32350/sir.103.01Keywords:
forensic odontology, tongue color, tongue morphology, tongue shapeAbstract
Tongue is a muscular and mobile organ with considerable morphological variation. Tongue shape and color may be influenced by genetic, environmental, and functional factors and have been investigated as potential supplementary characteristics in forensic odontology. The current study was undertaken to determine the variation of tongue morphology, with special reference to the shape and color of the tongue, among the individuals of Swat population. Furthermore, the study also focused to generate baseline population-specific data for forensic purposes. The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 103 participants of Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. The participants were recruited by convenience sampling according to the pre-established eligibility criteria. Written informed consent was obtained prior to examination. Tongue morphology was assessed by direct physical examination and the observations were recorded as per the classification criteria of the study. The data was summarized as frequencies and percentages. There were 55 males (53.4%) and 48 females (46.6%) in the study. Eight categories of tongue shape were recorded. The most frequent categories included rectangular (25, 24.3%), round (24, 23.3%), and acute triangular (14, 13.6%). The most common color of the tongue was pink (54, 52.4%), followed by whitish coated (33, 32.0%), red (11, 10.7%), and yellowish coated (5, 4.9%). Males most commonly fell in the rectangular shape category, whereas females most commonly fell in the round shape category. The results showed a considerable variation in the shape and color of tongue among the studied Swat population. These features may have potential value as supplementary forensic characteristics, in conjunction with established methods of identification. Larger, multicentric studies with standardized classification systems and reliability assessment are needed to establish their reproducibility and forensic discriminatory value.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Murad Ali, Abbas Bostan, Sabir Khan, Asad Ullah, Fazal Akbar
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