A Range of Postmortem Assault Experiments Conducted on a Variety of Denture Labels Used for the Purpose of Identification of Edentulous Individuals

Abstract

Forensic organizations worldwide have recommended that dental prostheses should be labeled with at least the patient's name and preferably with further unique identifiers such as social security number, etc. The practice of denture marking has been conducted over many years and several denture marking systems have been reported in the dental literature. However, very little is known about the resilience of such systems to conditions experienced in the majority of post- and perimortem assaults. The purpose of this investigation therefore, was to expose a selection of 10 denture labels to a series of hostile environments. Results of the study indicate that the majority of the denture labeling systems appear capable of withstanding a range of common, and not so common postmortem assaults. With regard to thermal insult, however, most performed badly with the exception of a label constructed from stainless steel orthodontic band. However, another label in the form of an electronic RFID-tag performed above expectations in the majority of experiments. Furthermore, its cosmetic appearance has proven most popular with many patients.

The Teaching of Denture Marking Methods in Dental Schools in the United Kingdom and the United States*,†

“…However, it should be noted that the method of denture marking employed does impact on the survivability of the identification information. The use of a metal band with an inclusion technique has been shown to be the most resistant (23) and it is therefore of concern that only 18% of schools undertaking marking used such a technique.…”

Attitudes, Perceptions, and Preferences of Individuals from Temuco (Chile) About Denture Marking

“…The forensic dental identification of edentulous individuals has been an obvious challenge precisely because such people do not have teeth with which to make a positive comparison . The already reported poor quality of the antemortem data (AM) in disaster victim identification (DVI) adds other even more difficult problems to solve: dental records of edentulous individuals are often scarce and outdated (these patients rarely visit their dentists) , and even greater problem of the (forensic pathologists') misconception that “no teeth, no dental identification” .…”

Forensic odontology, part 1. Dental identification

“…However, with the exception of fire, many basic labelling methods survive a common range of chemical and thermal insults. 13 …”