ABSTRACT

Identification Purposes.............................................................................................179 10.3 Dental Charts and Charting Systems ......................................................................184 10.4 Some Other Problems Encountered with Dental Identification ...........................185 10.5 An Example of Best Practice....................................................................................185 10.6 Dental Radiographs ..................................................................................................187 10.7 Use of Study Casts to Aid Postmortem Identification...........................................190 10.8 Use of DNA in Forensic Dentistry ..........................................................................190 10.9 Age Assessment Using Teeth ....................................................................................191 10.10 Dentures and Denture Marking ..............................................................................192 10.11 Surface Marking Techniques ....................................................................................193 10.12 Inclusion Marking Technique ..................................................................................194 10.13 Dental Profiling.........................................................................................................195 10.14 Conclusion.................................................................................................................196 10.15 Acknowledgments .....................................................................................................197 References .............................................................................................................................197

Forensic dentistry, or forensic odontology, was defined by Keiser-Neilson in 1970 as “that branch of forensic medicine which in the interest of justice deals with the proper handling and examination of dental evidence and with the proper evaluation and presentation of the dental findings.” His definition remains as true today as it was when originally proposed, representing the overlap between the dental and the legal professions. There are three major areas of activity embracing current forensic odontology namely: