Role of Dentist in Forensic Investigations

Abstract

Teeth can be used as a weapon of attack or defense. Dentistry has much to offer to law enforcement agencies in the uncovering and solution of crime. The permanent teeth develop throughout the first two decades of life, and physiologic variations, pathologies, and effects of dental therapy may be recorded in the hard tissues of the remaining dentition throughout life and beyond. It is the role of the dentist to help extract this information and use it in the identification of the unknown body. Human teeth and dental restorations have proven to remain stable during a long time as well as in extreme situations such as fire. Therefore, dentist can play an important part in the identification of severe mutilated bodies of unknown persons. The teeth may also be used as weapon and, under certain circumstances may leave information as to the identity of the biter. Analysis of bite marks is the second major responsibility of the forensic dentist. The general practitioner has a major role to play in providing the accurate dental records on which much of forensic activity is based.

Maintenance of antemortem dental records in private dental clinics: Knowledge, attitude, and practice among the practitioners of Mangalore and surrounding areas

“…In such circumstances, antemortem dental records play a crucial role as teeth or their marks may be the only piece of evidence. [ 1 2 ] Each tooth in an individual is unique due to their crown and root structure, surrounding bone, dental fillings, extractions, crowns, and bridges. These characteristics are generally recorded in a document called dental record or patient chart.…”

Role of forensic dentistry for dental practitioners: A comprehensive study

“…This antemortem record will help to identify deceased persons and criminals by comparing with the postmortem records prepared by examining deceased persons during investigations, in homicide and mass disasters. [ 4 ]…”

“… The relatively simple one of identification of the dead and The more complex one of identifying an assailant who has used his or her teeth as weapons. [ 4 ] …”

Esthetic Reformation of Traumatically Fractured Anterior Tooth Using Prefabricated Fiber Post and Core in Uncooperative Pediatric Patient: A Case Report

“…By acting in the civil, criminal, and research sectors, forensic dentists play a major role in modern criminal investigations [12,13,14]. The civil dental forensic field includes malpractice and neglect; the criminal field includes identification of specimens; and research encompasses both academic courses for different specialists with undergraduate and postgraduate training, and new research endeavors [3,7,8,15,16,17,18]. Natural teeth in all vertebrates, including humans, are the most durable organ of the body, persisting long after other skeletal structures have decomposed and are the most often preserved structures after death [19,20].…”

“…According to Interpol (2009), fingerprint, comparative dental, and DNA analysis comprise the primary methods of identification [17]. Since teeth do not easily decompose after death, they are a trusted, stand-alone identifier, as described in the Interpol guidelines [2,17,18,28]. Three types of dental identification procedures are considered the gold standard: comparative ante-mortem with post-mortem records of an individual; reconstructive post-mortem dental identification to assess the deceased person's ethnicity, age and gender; and the DNA profiling of oral cavity tissues when no dental records are available for comparison [10,22,28,40,41,42,43,44].…”