1.
Forensic Odontology is the
application of dental science to the administration of the law. It provides an
important community service in both the civil and criminal legal jurisdictions.
The scope of forensic odontology
is wide and includes the identification of victims of transport accidents,
gunshot, and incineration in vehicles and house fires. It is based upon the
recognition of unique features present in each person's dental structures. It
also includes the examination of bitemarks inflicted by humans and animals in a
variety of circumstances. Particularly significant are the bitemarks frequently
produced upon victims of child abuse. Assessment of age is another important
role of forensic odontology, applicable to both deceased and living persons.
It relies on the detailed
knowledge of the teeth and jaws possessed by a dentist. This skill incorporates
an education in dental anatomy, radiographs and their interpretation,
pathology, dental materials, developmental anomalies and a thorough familiarity
with the many methods of charting and abbreviations in dental treatment
progress notes.
This area of forensic identification plays a major role in
man-made or natural disaster, which result in multiple fatalities that are not
identifiable through conventional methods, i.e., fingerprints. The same
principles apply to individual fatality identification. In situations where
friction ridge skin has been destroyed, the recovery of identifiable dental
structures is still possible. It becomes most apparent in aircraft crashes and
industrial explosions where high G forces and fire produce fragmentation and
partial incineration. The teeth and dental restorations are the strongest
elements in the human body and survive the destructive influences of fire and
exposure to the elements.
Individualization from dental radiographs is based upon
several factors, the most important being the ability to locate a source of
known dental or medical radiographs, which clearly document unique points of
identification. As has been previously stated, it is also dependent upon the
survivability of dental structure for post mortem radiography. Further, it is
also dependent upon deriving a presumptive identification of the fatality from
other investigative means; i.e., flight manifests, personal effects, or other
circumstantial evidence. Unlike a central repository for automated fingerprint
analysis, dental records must be derived individually.
Once obtained, even a single dental radiograph can yield
multiple points of comparison. When one considers that an individual has the
potential for having thirty-two teeth, each tooth having a top and four sides
and each of these five surfaces being virgin or restored with one or more of
several types of dental materials, the probability of establishing an
identification is extremely high. When factors such as an extraction pattern,
the presence of anatomic anomalies or pathology is added, the probability of
the dental characteristics becoming unique can be established.
