The Diversity of Dental Patterns in the Orthopantomography and Its Significance in Human Identification

Abstract

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of orthopantomography for human identification. Three hundred orthopantomograms were randomly selected from those stored at Dental Hospital of Yonsei University in Seoul. Dental patterns observed in orthopantomogram were converted into eight codes and their diversity was calculated. The diversity of dental patterns in orthopantomogram was 99.92% for full dentition and the diversity of mandible (99.28%) was slightly higher value than that of maxilla (98.22%). In the case of molars and premolars in both jaws, the diversity values ranged from 92.13% to 96.04%. It was founded that the orthopantomography is a valuable means of personal identification not only based on full dentition but also when only the posterior teeth are available. The present study indicates that orthopantomography is excellent means of forensic identification.

Occurrence of diversity in dental pattern and their role in identification in Indian population: An orthopantomogram based pilot study

“…[14] However, the results varied greatly when the maxilla and the mandible were considered alone. The high value of diversity for full dentition implies sufficient power for personal identification.…”

The chronology of second and third molar development in Koreans and its application to forensic age estimation

“…As the jaw bones of dead remains were often recovered in parts or fragments, the estimation of age should be performed with one side of the jaw or one jaw bone only, in some cases. In certain forensic conditions, periapical dental radiographs should be used in age estimation instead of orthopantomograms, which have proven to be valuable in human identification [22]. In addition, when estimating the ages of living individuals, one or more M3s were often congenitally missing or had been extracted.…”

Occurrence of diversity in dental pattern and their role in identification in Udaipur population: an orthopantomogram based study

“…Furthermore, initial radiolucency of the carious lesion can be misinterpreted with the artifact of the radiograph. (Lee et al 2004) Sweet points out that one of the greatest difficulties in using the method of diversity of dental patterns is the availability of antemortem dentistry data. In developing countries, like India, the main reason individuals are not identified is the absence of data or lack of access to dental services.…”

“…For these reasons there is a clear need for the diversity of dental patterns in Orthopantomograms to be explored in more detail. (Lee et al 2004) Dental comparison is based on unique characteristics of the teeth (shape, outline, restorations, supernumerary teeth, impacted teeth, fractured teeth etc.). The vast number of possible combinations of these characteristics in human dentition, can give rise, in theory, to trillions of possible dental patterns that could allow the identification process to be quantified as reported.…”