The Role of Dentistry in Disaster Management and Victim Identification: An Overview of Challenges in Indo-Nepal Scenario

Dutta, Shubha Ranjan; Singh, Purnima; Passi, Deepak; Varghese, Don; Sharma, Shubham

doi:10.1007/s12663-016-0896-4

Cited by 28 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…), dental prostheses (restorations, fixed and removable prosthesis, implants), periodontal ligaments, jawbones and pathologies associated with jawbones. Most dental identifications are based on comparisons of restorations, caries, missing teeth and/or prosthetic devices, leading to easy documentation in the records [ 27 ]. All these records can be obtained from general dental practitioners (GDPs) or teaching dental hospitals as ante-mortem data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of forensic odontology in the identification of victims of major mass disasters across the world: A systematic review

Prajapati

Sarode

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundForensic odontology (FO) is regarded in the literature as one of the most reliable and economical scientific methods for victim identification in mass disasters (MDs). The present paper systematically reviews the role of forensic odontologists in various global MDs.MethodA comprehensive search of the literature databases (PubMed, Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google Scholar), along with cross-referencing published peer-reviewed articles, was conducted. The search included full texts, abstracts or titles, had no inclusion year limit (searched until September 2017) and was limited to the English language. Keywords included a combination of ‘Forensic odontology’, ‘Dental records’, ‘Victim identification’, ‘Natural mass disaster’, ‘Criminal mass disaster’, ‘Accidental mass disaster’ and ‘Victim disaster’.ResultsOf the included disasters (20), 12 (57.14%) were accidental, 5 (23.80%) natural and 3 (19.04%) were criminal. The maximum number of victims was associated with the Japan tsunami (15892), followed by the Thailand tsunami (4280) and the Estonia ferry disaster (852). A total of 23654 victims were reported, of which 20569 (86.96%) were positively identified. Reports from 17 MDs included the use of FO in victim identification [3025 (14.70%) cases]. In addition, 1094 victims (5.31%; from 7 papers) were identified using FO in combination with other methodologies. The highest percentage of victims was identified using FO following the Kentucky air crash (47; 100%), followed by the Newark air crash (38; 76%), the Nepal air crash (10; 71.42%), the France air crash (56; 65.88%), the Australian bushfire (14; 63.63%), and the Estonia ferry disaster (57; 60.63%).ConclusionFO has played a significant role in victim identification in several MDs around the world. The success of FO-based identification is heavily dependent on the availability of ante-mortem records from general dental practitioners. Hence, adequate knowledge about FO and appropriate dental record keeping among general dental practitioners are critical.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of forensic odontology in the identification of victims of major mass disasters across the world: A systematic review

Prajapati

Sarode

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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“…9,10 Following transient psychological distress, the risk of depression and insomnia were commonly increased. [11][12][13] The field of disaster dentistry could play supportive roles in management of postdisaster distress among disaster survivors, 14,15 as supported by the report of Kishi et al 13 indicating that serious psychological distress among GEJE survivors was strongly associated with lower oral health-related quality of life. Similarly, our previous reports indicated the increase in oral problems including subjective toothache among the GEJE survivors, with robust associations with psychological distress and insomnia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

High prevalence of toothache among Great East Japan Earthquake survivors living in temporary housing

Tsuchiya

Aida

Watanabe

et al. 2018

Comm Dent Oral Epid

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Objectives The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami cause large‐scale destruction in the north‐eastern coastal areas in Japan, and forced many survivors to relocate to prefabricated temporary housing, a typical emergency accommodation. Based on the hypothesis that higher toothache prevalence among the disaster survivors is associated with postdisaster distress, we determined the impact of temporary residential environment as potential stressor on the subjective toothache prevalence. Methods A repeated cross‐sectional health survey based on self‐reported questionnaire was conducted in 2776 disaster survivors, of whom 1446 participants underwent dental examination by dentists. Housing type was categorized into three groups including the same housing as before the earthquake, temporary housing and rented/new housing. The association of housing type with subjective toothache prevalence was examined using multivariate logistic regression analysis in all subjects and subgroup analysis in dental examination applicants. Stratified analysis by survey wave was applied with inclusion of covariates such as the socio‐demographic factors, and presence of insomnia and psychological distress. In subgroup analysis, presence of dental caries and gum problems in dental examination were included as factors of direct exposure to subjective toothache. Results In the first survey wave, the participants living in the temporary housing had significantly higher odds ratio (OR) for toothache prevalence compared to the participants living in the same housing (OR: 3.76, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.85‐7.65, P < 0.001); whereas in all other survey waves, there was no significant difference. Subgroup analysis of dental examination applicants confirmed the presence of significant association of subjective toothache prevalence in the temporary housing group alone (OR: 3.27, 95% CI: 1.38‐7.76, P = 0.004), but not in the rented/new housing group (OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 0.57‐3.91, P = 0.411), even after adjusting for covariates related to oral findings. Conclusion Temporary housing may be a factor to increase the risk of subjective toothache among disaster survivors only at postdisaster acute phase.

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“…The empirical role of forensic odontologists in disaster management and victim identification is fulfilled by maintaining well‐structured, comprehensive, and accurate dental records for both teaching and research purposes, as well as for legal matters (Dutta, Singh, Passi, Varghese, & Sharma, ). Another study strongly recommended mandatory quality dental records that are both efficiently stored and easily accessible, especially in high‐risk groups such as the military populations (Guimarães et al, n.d.).…”

Section: Discussion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the perceived versus the actual knowledge about forensic odontology: A cross‐sectional survey among dentists

Almutairi

Alkhtheri

Aleidan

et al. 2018

Clinical & Exp Dental Res

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Dentists should have the basic essential skills and knowledge about forensic odontology, to better collaborate with law enforcement and investigations. The objective of this survey was to assess the perceived and actual knowledge toward forensic odontology among dentists and to question their willingness to attend training courses on this specialty. A cross‐sectional survey based on a self‐administered questionnaire was conducted in various districts of Saudi Arabia. Four hundred dentists responded to a questionnaire that tested their actual knowledge of forensic odontology based on answering 15 statements using the alternatives correct, incorrect, do not know. The perceived knowledge was registered as strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree, then assigned scores respectively from four to zero. A willingness to attend a training course in the future was recorded by (yes/no). Scores were summated then subjected to descriptive statistics and regression analyses. Responses were received from 360 study participants (89% response rate). The percentage of correct answers, that is, the actual knowledge, was 67.9 (standard deviation [SD] ± 18.4). About two thirds of the responders (n = 251, 69.7%) indicated a willingness to attend a forensic odontology course in the future. Differences in both actual and perceived knowledge were identified on the basis of gender, work experience, education level, attended a course in forensic odontology, and having previously provided a past bite‐mark examination. The perceived knowledge on forensic odontology among dentists was moderate to low. The gap between perceived and actual knowledge signifies low self‐confidence. Dentists with higher education levels and experience tend to have better knowledge.

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The Role of Dentistry in Disaster Management and Victim Identification: An Overview of Challenges in Indo-Nepal Scenario

Cited by 28 publications

References 26 publications

Role of forensic odontology in the identification of victims of major mass disasters across the world: A systematic review

Role of forensic odontology in the identification of victims of major mass disasters across the world: A systematic review

High prevalence of toothache among Great East Japan Earthquake survivors living in temporary housing

Examining the perceived versus the actual knowledge about forensic odontology: A cross‐sectional survey among dentists

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