Introduction to forensic dentistry

ƒ Definition and history

ƒ Recent developments and future trends

DEFINITION

 Keiser Neilson defined “the branch of dentistry that in the interest of justice deals with proper
handling and examination of dental evidence and the proper evaluation and presentation of
dental findings”

HISTORY

 66 AD, first documented case- Agrippina wife of Roman emperor Claudius ordered her soldiers
to kill lollia paulina and to bring her head, she was satisfied by confirming the death looking at
the dental alignment
 In 1193, Jaichand and Indian emperor was killed by Muhammads army and his death was
confirmed by his false teeth
 In 1758, Peter Halket was killed in French - Indian war and his son identified his father’s skeleton
by identifying his artificial tooth
 Dr Joseph Warren was killed in battle for breed in Boston, his dentist Paul Revere identified the
body by small denture fabricated by him
 Dr Oscar Amoebda established first forensic odontology department in Japan, Tokyo dental
college
 In 1972 International organization for forensic odonto stomatology was established
 India association of forensic odontology began in 2000

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

PORTABLE DENTAL X-RAY GENERATOR

 Handheld digital X- ray generator was invented in 2004- Aribex NOMAD

 Its potable and easily carried
 Helps in taking postmortem radiographs at the site of mass disasters or at the site of event
 Cordless operation with rechargeable batteries is its advanced feature
 Provides 100-700 exposures on a single charge
 Automatic shutdown and presence of an internal shield and external barrier minimizes the
radiation exposure
 Image quality is equivalent to conventional Xrays

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

 Defined reproduction of crime scene is most crucial in forensic investigation

 Digital cameras of different types are used to record images
 Full spectrum forensic photography is crucial in
o Dental identification
o Identify human abuse
 o Bitemarks
 UV light photography is required to confirm the instrument marks on loose teeth on skeleton to
conclude nonnatural avulsion
 Alternate light imaging ALI helps to identify injuries or bitemarks on skin which are invisible to
naked eye
 Infrared photography identifies bleeding below the skin surface and also some old tattoos on
mummifies skins

DIGITAL RADIOGRAPHY

 It is becoming popular in dental practice these days

 Advantages
o Less exposure
o Easy storage of images
o no chemical developing
 types
o DAD DIGITIZING AFTER DEVELOPMENT
 Conventional X-ray films scanned using computer to see images
o PHOSPHOR DENTAL RADIOGRAPHY
 Uses phosphor substrate films instead of conventional films
o DIRECT DIGITAL X RAY
 Uses a sensor in place of xray film
 Sensor sends signals to charged coupled device when energetised by radiation
forming pixels image and this creates an image on computer screen attached to
it by a cord or corless technique
 Due to its ability to save time, digital radiography is used for forensic cases sometimes

COMPUTERIZED CONE BEAM TOMOGRAPHY CBCT

 Very useful in forensic investigations with its low cost, effective and quality images produced in
short time
 Age is estimated by pulp/tooth volume ratio measurements of mandibular canines using CBCT
(Jagannathan et al.,2011)
 Sex differentiation using anthropometric measurements on mandibular teeth (Jawaid et
al.,2014)

SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY WITH ENERGY DISPERSIVE XRAY SPECTROSCOPY (SEM/EDS) AND
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROMETER (XRF)

 When victims body is so much damaged, dental records play a major role in personal
identification
 (SEM/EDS) and (XRF) are recently used to locate the resin restoration and also the brands name
of restoration based on composition in it in both cremated and non-cremated bodies

COMPUTER ASSISTED DENTAL IDENTIFICATION SOFTWARES

 Data collection and documentation of collected evidences

  First time used in 1980

METHODS TO ANALYSE DNA POLYMORPHISM

RFLP METHOD

 DNA is chopped into fragments by restriction endonuclease enzymes at certain specific points
 The cut fragments have varying number of tandem repeats of different sizes but are not used for
testing because of poor quality

PCR METHOD

 DNA extracted is amplified for an amount required to test

 Principle – DNA replicates by itself
 Unwinding of two strands and each strand forms the replica of the opposite strand
 in two hours, after 30 cycles, DNA is amplified for 109 times
STR ANALYSIS

 Hypervariable DNA regions with consecutive sequences

 Test is best for forensic investigations and is a revolution in human identification and paternity
testing

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ANALYSIS

 Mt DNA differs from nuclear DNA in

o Location
o Amount
o Inheritance mode
o Sequence
 For older samples like hair, bone and teeth, when nuclear material is not available,
mitochondrial DNA analysis is followed
 Extremely helpful for unresolved cases for many years
 It is better than nuclear genome since it has passed maternal lineage

Y CHROMOSOME ANALYSIS

 Y chromosome passes directly from father to son

 In 90’s, y chromosome analysis was developed for crime analysis
 Successfully determines sex
References

 J Pharm Bioallied Sci.2015 Apr; 7(Suppl 1): S176-S180

 Int J Forensic Odontol 2016;1 :1
 International Journal Of Forensic Research (2015), volume 3, Issue 10, 1615-1620
 Journal of forensic dental sciences (JFDS) 2(2):63-8