ABSTRACT
Recent concerns over the scientific validity of entrenched forensic procedures, such as fingerprinting, have caused judicial systems worldwide to question the evaluation of evidence by expert witnesses [1]. The conventional morphometric analysis of bitemarks has received particular attention in this regard, in part because of the lack of statistical determination of the uniqueness of an individual’s dentition [2-4]. Despite increasingly sophisticated and rigorous methods of analysis, as highlighted in this volume, this fundamental issue and the informed yet necessarily subjective interpretation required in the analysis of many bitemarks will likely continue to cloud and even discourage morphometric analysis.
