Forensic Odontology

- People can be identified by their teeth.

- Involves management, examination, evaluation and presentation of dental
evidence in criminal or civil proceedings in all interest of justice
- The subject can be divided roughly into three major fields of activity Civil or
noncriminal and research
- Dr. Oscar Amoedo is considered the father of forensic odontology

Purpose for Odontology

- Management and maintenance of dental records that comply with legal
requirements
- Identification of human remains by comparing antemortem and postmortem
dental informations
- Collection and analysis of patterned marks or bite marks on a inanimate
material or injured tissues
- Recognition of the signs and symptoms of human tissue
- Assessment of the age of a person
- Determination of sex of a person

- Dental hard tissues and dental materials- resistant to postmortem

decomposition
- Dental incidence is the method of choice in establishing identification of
badly burned and or decomposed bodies.

What you need to know

- Human dentition is never the same in two individuals
- The morphology and arrangement of teeth vary from person to person
- Dental identity is the total of all characteristics of the teeth and their
associated structures which while not individually unique when considered
together provide a unique totality
- Teeth are relatively resistant to the environmental insults after deaths.

1. Comprare dental identification

- Attend conclusive identification by comparing the dead individuals teeth with
presumed dental records of the individual
- Oral autopsy
- Obtaining dental records
 - Comparing post and ante mortem dental data
- Writing a report and drawing conclusions
2. Reconstructive Groups
- Attempts are made age, sex, race, occupation, etc leading to probable
identification.

Results / Conclusion
Positive identification
- Sufficient uniqueness among the comparable items
Probable identification
- High level of similarity among datas may lack radiograph support
Presumptive or possible identification
- Enough information may be missing from either source
Insufficient identification
- Not enough evidence to support claim
Exclusion of identification
- Clearly inconsistent