ABSTRACT
The report on bitemark evidence [1] results was presented to the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) odontology section in 1977 but never published. It might be of interest from a historical perspective to examine the report in order to appraise the current situation. The committee’s mandate was to assess and develop criteria for bitemark investigation. A threepart questionnaire was sent to all members of the odontology section of the AAFS as well as to selected individuals throughout the world with known bitemark experience. There were 31 respondents. Among the non-American respondents were R.B.J. Dorion, G. Johanson, S. Kogon, J. Purves, K. Suzuki, G. C. Swann, W. Harvey, S. Keiser-Nielsen, and P. R. Van Ostenberg. Warren Harvey’s classic textbook, Dental Identification & Forensic Odontology, had just been published in 1976 [2]. There were five chapters dealing with bitemark evidence: bites and bite marks; experimental human bite-marks; characteristics of individual teeth and identification from bite marks-Preliminary statistical data; Saliva in forensic odontology; and the preparation of models of teeth and bitemarks in food and on bodies.
