Indian Journal of Forensic Odontology

 One of the most remarkable features of the human body is its individuality of appearance. “Each man’s shell is his own personal in sign, clearly setting him apart from any other human beings in the present or the past”. The criminal acts of unlawful people can cause a disastrous end to the life of an individual. Soft tissue degeneration in human remains leads to loss of evidences. Forensic Science has proved to be of immense help in the identification of such cases with the available human remains such as skull and teeth due to their resistance to environmental insults. The most important application of forensic odontology includes identification of human remains through dental records and assisting at the scene of crime. The author reports a case of a victim of murder who was identified by comparing the postmortem data with the antimortem dental records sent by his dentist. Proper preservation and analysis of dental records can thus make it a legally acceptable document and assist legal authorities in the identification of victims and suspects.

Keywords: Dental Rrecords; Human Identification; Human Remains.

Saliva is dynamic secretion that maintains the oral health by its several chemical and physical properties. At all the times, throughout day and night saliva is fit into its function either during resting or active state. Its importance on oral and systemic health is recognized only during xerostomia conditions. Either defects in the chemical composition or the salivary flow rate, the deficiency in the salivary characters is reflected on the oral and systemic health of the individual. Saliva was given a little importance in the research field till the recent past wherein lot much has been learnt through various research studies on saliva in several local and systemic conditions. Even though saliva could be considered as a supplementary fluid in the diagnosis of several diseases, but the importance of the same can not be neglected. 

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Aim: To predict the age of patients on the basis of vertical position of mental foramen and assess the variations in vertical position and vertical diameter of the mental foramen in dentulous, partially edentulous and edentulous patients on panoramic radiograph. Material and Method: The panoramic radiographs of 560 subjects were evaluated. In 60 subjects mental foramina could not be identified on the panoramic radiographs so they were excluded from  study. The study population included subjects of all age groups. The maximum subjects were in 20-29 years age group followed by 30-39 years and 40-49 years age groups. The data were analyzed using one way ANOVA (Analysis of variance),  Duncan’s Multiple Range test,  Post-hoc analysis of ANOVA and T-test. Result: Mean relative vertical position of mental foramen between each age group showed very high statistical difference (P<0.001). Younger age group has high relative vertical position with maximum in lessthen 20 years age group and older age groups showed low relative vertical position with least in Greater then equal to 80 years age group. The age of any individual can be predicted on the basis of mathematical equations derived from linear regression analysis. Mean relative vertical position in all three status of dentition groups i.e., dentulous, partially edentulous and edentulous subjects showed highly significant (p<0.001) difference. The vertical position was highest in dentulous subjects followed by partially edentulous subjects and least in edentulous subjects. Mean vertical diameter of mental foramen between each age group, gender wise and dentition wise did not show any statistical difference. Conclusion: From the mathematical equations derived by linear regression analysis the age of a subject can be predicted with high sensitivity. However due to ethnic, racial, geographical, genetic and environmental factors vertical positions of mental foramen varies from population to population. It was concluded that equations obtained by linear regression analysis may be used as a tool for age estimation in medico-legal cases and clinical dentistry.

Keywords: Mental Foramen; Panoramic Radiograph; Mandible; Premolars; Molars.