Suicide by the intraoral blast of firecrackers — experimental simulation using a skull simulant model

Abstract

Suicides committed by intraorally placed firecrackers are rare events. Given to the use of more powerful components such as flash powder recently, some firecrackers may cause massive life-threatening injuries in case of such misuse. Innocuous black powder firecrackers are subject to national explosives legislation and only have the potential to cause harmless injuries restricted to the soft tissue. We here report two cases of suicide committed by an intraoral placement of firecrackers, resulting in similar patterns of skull injury. As it was first unknown whether black powder firecrackers can potentially cause serious skull injury, we compared the potential of destruction using black powder and flash powder firecrackers in a standardized skull simulant model (Synbone, Malans, Switzerland). This was the first experiment to date simulating the impacts resulting from an intraoral burst in a skull simulant model. The intraoral burst of a "D-Böller" (an example of one of the most powerful black powder firecrackers in Germany) did not lead to any injuries of the osseous skull. In contrast, the "La Bomba" (an example of the weakest known flash powder firecrackers) caused complex fractures of both the viscero- and neurocranium. The results obtained from this experimental study indicate that black powder firecrackers are less likely to cause severe injuries as a consequence of intraoral explosions, whereas flash powder-based crackers may lead to massive life-threatening craniofacial destructions and potentially death.

Self-inflicted explosive death by intra-oral detonation of a firecracker: a case report

“…Zwirner at al conducted an experiment on the potential injuries sustained due to firecrackers and concluded that flash-powder based firecrackers (as used in our case) may indeed result in severe craniofacial injuries and destruction as opposed to black-powder based firecrackers [10]. Our case report support the findings of severe craniofacial injuries sustained as a result of the detonation of a flash-powder based firecracker.…”

Mechanical Properties of Human Dura Mater in Tension – An Analysis at an Age Range of 2 to 94 Years

“…For instance a ballistic or blunt force experiment using such skull models could be conducted according to the presented case or the testimony of the accused and subsequently compared to radiographic or autopsy images of the related case. Furthermore, forensic pathology teaching and research profit from more realistic human skull models by means of demonstrative experiments in classrooms and laboratories 9,29,30 . Detailed mechanical data of the tissues of the human head is to date missing in large numbers and in a chemically fresh condition.…”

“…In addition to these forensic questions, a thorough understanding of the mechanisms involved with head injury is essential for the determination of treatment in clinical care. Both computational and physical skull models can be used to reproduce forensic-relevant injuries in a reliable and bloodless manner, without the ethical concerns that would be present in cadaver or animal experiments 4–9 . Carr et al .…”

What Is Considered a Variation of Biomechanical Parameters in Tensile Tests of Collagen-Rich Human Soft Tissues?—Critical Considerations Using the Human Cranial Dura Mater as a Representative Morpho-Mechanic Model

“…Mechanical parameters obtained from human tissues are fundamental to accurately simulate the load deformation behavior of these tissues in computer simulations [ 1 , 2 ] and physical replicas [ 3 , 4 ]. Further to this, direct comparison of characteristic mechanical properties allows to compare for age [ 5 ], sex [ 6 ] or site-dependent differences [ 7 ] of biological tissues when loaded.…”