A look at forensic dentistry – Part 1: The role of teeth in the determination of human identity

Potential contribution of periapical radiographic film image processing for forensic identification

“…The absence of antemortem x-rays or poor quality images may contraindicate dental arches examination in such individuals, especially in the presence of clinical records with inaccurate information about treatments and location, dental anomalies, as well as incomplete, erroneous, unavailable or nonexistent initial and final dental charts 12 . The type, location and material of dental restorations is significantly important for individual identification, however several other oral features can be examined, especially in individuals with few restorations 12 .…”

The use of human teeth in identification: epidemiological data from an anthropology lab in Brazil

“…This same technique, in which the age is estimated by measuring the pulp chamber can also be used with premolars. This technique is performed by measuring the amount of dentine and enamel and it is known that women have more dentin and enamel that most men (PRETTY; SWEET, 2001).…”

“…The primary methods for human identification are fingerprint analyses, dental examination and DNA (PRETTY; SWEET, 2001;INTERPOL, 2015). Between all tissues of the human body, the teeth have the best resistance to post-mortem changes and, for this reason, it can be used to estimate people´s age, sex, ancestry and height.…”

Forensic odontology, part 1. Dental identification

“…In the absence of any antemortem dental record, the forensic odontologist may work with other forensic disciplines, such as the forensic anthropologist or pathologist, to help narrow the population search by contributing information on the age, sex and ancestry of the deceased, which is sometimes referred to as postmortem dental profiling. 5 It may be possible to provide information on behavioural habits (for example bruxism), systemic disease, occupation, smoking status and dietary habits. Do the dental features suggest an eating or gastric disorder, alcohol or substance abuse?…”