Indian Journal of Forensic Odontology

Dental professionals can play an important role in identifying and referring victims of domestic violence. Since most of the injuries sustained by victims occur in the head and neck region, dentists are uniquely positioned to help address this enormous public health issue. Unfortunately, dentists are the least likely of all health professionals to identify and refer victims of abuse. Much of this failure may be attributed to a lack of knowledge. This article provides an overview of the types and indicators of abuse, information about screening and dealing with such victims.

Key words: Domestic violence; Dentist; Intimate partner violence; Elder abuse. 

Saliva may be found on victims of several violent crimes and it has been shown that it can also be potentially recovered and typed from bite marks, cigarette butts, postage stamps, envelopes and other objects. The double swab technique has been shown to increase the amount of salivary DNA recovered from skin when compared to other methods. Aim and objective: To recover DNA from saliva deposited on human skin by double swab method and amplification of microsatellites and minisatellites from the recovered DNA. Materials and method: Saliva from five volunteers was deposited on human skin and recovered using the double swab technique. DNA extraction was done using phenol chloroform method and PCR was used for amplification of 5 genes {Amelogenin (AMG), von Willebrand factor (vWF), F13 and D4S and Apolipoprotein (APO B)}. DNA was obtained from blood and direct salivary samples of the same volunteers and was used to compare the gene amplifications obtained by double swab technique. Results: We found that using the DNA recovered from double swab technique F13 could be amplified in all 5 samples (100%) saliva samples deposited on skin, AMG, D4S and APO B genes could be amplified in 80%, 60% and 40% samples respectively whereas vWF gene failed to amplify in any of the sample. DNA amplified from all five samples of double swab technique matched positively with DNA obtained from saliva and blood. Conclusion: Double swab technique can be used for isolating DNA from deposited saliva samples for the purpose of forensic study though the technique needs to be refined. 

Key words: Short Tandem Repeats (STR), Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR), AMG, F13, VWF, D4S and APO B. 

This review article focuses on mass disaster situations that may arise from natural or manmade circumstances and the significant role of forensic dental personnel in human identification following such occurrences. The various forensic dental modalities of identification that include matching techniques, postmortem profiling, genetic fingerprinting, dental fossil assessment and dental biometrics with digital subtraction were considered. The varying extent of use of forensic dental techniques and the resulting positive impact on human identification were considered. The importance of preparation by way of special training for forensic dental personnel, mock disaster rehearsal, and use of modern day technology was tressed. There is a growing interest in and a necessity for utilizing the skills of forensic dentist in mass disaster. Further training and education of dental practitioners is needed in order to fully integrate general dental practitioners into the trauma team and to change the current attitude to admit a meaningful role for dentists in a mass casualty situation. 

Key words: Forensic odontology; Mass disasters; Dental identification. 

Aim: To find the incidence of different types of lip patterns, quadrant wise dominant pattern, and to study various subtypes of Type V pattern Methodology: Lip prints of 100 students studying in Goa Dental College & Hospital were taken using 14 mm wide and 50 mm long Scotch tape without any distortion. These prints were then scanned (256 gray shades at a resolution of 300 dpi.) for the digital analysis. Using various applications of Adobe Photoshop 7 software an attempt was made to trace each and every line. K. Suzuki and Y. Tsuchihashi’s classification was followed to define the patterns of the grooves. Results: The current study has found the most predominant pattern in all four Quadrants to be Type V followed in order by Type I’, Type I, Type II, Type IV and then Type III except in Quadrant IV Type I pattern was found to be more prevelant than Type I’. The present study recorded the following types of type V patterns for the first time; Trifurcations, Bridge or ‘H’ pattern, Horizontal Lines, Cartwheel, Pineapple Skin and Multiple Branching Appearance Conclusion: The analysis of Lip prints with digital method provides better visualization, ease in identification and recording of the Lip Print pattern. Predominant pattern in all four quadrants was Type V. Although type V is the most predominant pattern reported in the present study, the sub classification of this type defines the more defined term and aids in accuracy of the classification.  

Key words: Lip Prints; Cheiloscopy; Digital analysis; Sub-classification of type V.