Forensic medical evaluation of dental-jaw injuries in cases of traffic accidents

Abstract

Information about the differential diagnosis of human bodily injuries, which were formed when the body, wheel and bottom of a modern car came into contact with the body of a pedestrian; a person on the road surface, in the cabin of a modern car (driver and passengers), when a cyclist comes into contact with a car, in cases of combined types of car injury, is not enough. The purpose of the study is to increase the objectivity of forensic examinations by determining the criteria for assessing damage to the dental system in cases of the most common types of accidents: collision of moving vehicle with man; run over the body with a wheels or the bottom of vehicle; at an injury inside the vehicle on the basis of the analysis of morphological features and the mechanism of the specified damages. The archival materials of 130 forensic medical examinations of the municipal institution “Odessa Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination” concerning victims of living persons and corpses as a result of traffic accidents that were accompanied by their injuries in the period 2015-2020 were used. The following research methods were used: anthropometric, morphometric, photographic, radiological, statistical. The article presents our own experience of improving the objectivity and provability of forensic examinations by determining the criteria for assessing damage to the dental system in cases of the most common types of vehicle: collision of moving vehicle with man; run over the body with a wheels or the bottom of vehicle; at an injury inside the vehicle on the basis of the analysis of morphological features and the mechanism of the specified damages. It is proved that according to the degree of gravity of physical injuries (health disorder or disability), damage to the dental apparatus in traffic accidents should be investigated only in cases of isolated injuries. In this case, fractures of the jaws, regardless of their nature, should be assessed as moderate injuries according to the criterion of long-term health disorders; Crown fractures, traumatic tooth dislocations, and soft tissue fatal wounds should be considered simple injuries that have caused short-term health disorders. Abrasions, bruises should be attributed to simple injuries. Thus, it is impractical to separately determine the severity of the injury of the dental system in cases run over the head with a wheels or the bottom of vehicle - in these cases, we always deal with gross, massive destruction of the bones of the skull.