Indian Journal of Forensic Odontology

Forensic dentistry or forensic odontology is the proper handling, examination and evaluation of dental evidence, which will be then presented in the interest of justice. It plays a major role in manmade or natural disaster, which result in fatalities that are not identifiable through the use of fingerprints and other conventional methods. In situations where skin has been destroyed, the recovery of identifiable dental structures is still possible. The teeth and dental restorations are the strongest elements in the human body and survive the destructive influences of fire and exposure to the elements. This article gives a brief overview of some of the roles undertaken by Forensic Odontologists.

Keywords: Forensic Odontology; Identification; Violence; Abuse.

Bite marks may be caused by humans or animals, they may be on tissue, food items or on objects. Biting is considered to be a primitive type of assault and results when teeth are employed as a weapon in an act of dominance or desperation. As a result bite marks are usually associated with sex crimes, violent fights, child abuse and even in scenes of theft. Hence, matching the bite mark to a suspect’s dentition may enable investigating officers to implicate the suspect in a crime.

Keywords: Bite marks; Weapon; Crime.

Cadavers speak their own language. Moving back in history human identification was one of the most challenging subjects that man had confronted. The concept of identity, with few significant variations, is the same as the assertion of Alves[1] that identity is a set of physical characteristics, functional or psychic, normal or pathological, that define an individual. The determination of race, sex, age, and stature of the bone gives valuable information in establishing the identity of a person. Another skill that is receiving increasing attention is the virtual anthropology.

Key words: Anthropology; Identity; Forensic; Imaging.

The available literature of palatoscopy is vast and extensive, but this review was considered to throw some light on history, different classifications of palatal rugae patterns and various studies done on palatoscopy. Palatal rugae were first described by Winslow in 1732. The earliest illustration of palatal rugae is by Santorini in 1775. The palatal rugae has been considered relevant for human identification due to its stable, being equivalent to the fingerprint, unique for each individual and study on the identification of persons is called palatoscopy or palatal rugoscopy. Several studies done in the past have revealed and statistically proved that the rugae patterns are highly individualistic and there are differences between genders and populations. Lysell’s classification in 1955 is the most important, and it has been used widely in research involving rugae. Finally, palatal rugae can be used as a reliable guide to the forensic identification.

Key words: Forensic; Odontology; Palatal rugae.

There are three main elements in the procedure of anthropological investigation and the identification of exhumed human remains: race determination, sex determination and age determination at the time of death. The most difficult one to determine is the age. Patterns of aging are detected by direct observation and radiological examination. Simple methods can provide data about age at death for large number of individuals, but with less accuracy. More complex methods which require qualified and trained personnel can provide data about age for a smaller number of individuals, but with more accuracy. Using different age calculation methods for archaeological samples can raise the level of confidence and percentage of success in determining age. Analysis based on morphological methods can yield age estimation error margins of greater than 10 years, whereas precise methods such as aspartic acid racemization and radiocarbon analysis report accuracies of 3 and 1–2 years. 

Key words: Age estimation; Amino acid racemization; Radiocarbon analysis.

Background: The appearance of lip prints look like finger prints and are heritable and are supposed to be individualistic. Off lately studies of lip prints (cheiloscopy) has drawn attention of many forensic researchers in solving crime and legal related cases. Aim: The present study was aimed to evaluate the lip print patterns of different individuals in four quadrants of lip and find out the incidence of most prominent pattern in the South Indian Population. Materials & Methods: A total of 200 adult subjects (100 males and 100 females) were included in the study. Suzuki and Tsuchihashi classification devised in 1970 was used to classify the types of grooves and the results were statistically analyzed. Results: Amongst all the lip prints studied, no identically similar lipprint pattern appeared in two subjects. In males Type I pattern was most prominent in all the quadrants (28.7%) followed by Type III pattern (27.7%). In males Type I was more prominent in upper right quadrant (38%) and lower left quadrant (21.8%) and Type III was prominent in upper left (28.2%) and lower right (31%). In females too Type I pattern was prominent in all the quadrants studied (34%). In females lower left quadrant showed the highest frequency of Type I (37%) followed by upper right quadrant (34.6%). Upper left and lower right quadrants showed Type I pattern in 33% respectively. Conclusion: According to the present study lip prints are unique to an individual and can be very essential for identification of a person.

Keywords: Cheiloscopy; Lip prints; Forensic odontology.