A Study Among General Dental Practitioners, Orthodontists and Forensic Odontologists Regarding Forensic Identification in Orthodontic Context

Abstract

The process of dental identification involves comparing the dentition of the deceased with the latest dental records of presumed dead. It may become challenging to identify an individual whose orthodontic treatment records are untraceable for any reason. In such instances the dentition of the dead who underwent orthodontic treatment may need to be compared with the records before orthodontic treatment. The goal of this study was to determine the accuracy of matching pre and post-orthodontic treatment casts among general dental practitioners (GDPs), orthodontists, and forensic odontologists. Pre and post-orthodontic treatment dental casts from ten patients were used in this study. Pre-orthodontic maxillary and mandibular dental casts were separated from post-orthodontic maxillary and mandibular dental casts. A total of fifteen assessors comprising five orthodontists, five forensic odontologists and five GDPs compared and matched the pre and post-orthodontic dental cast pairs. Results revealed higher correct matches among forensic odontologists (94%) as compared to orthodontists (88%) followed by GDPs (80%). Among the parameters, ‘specific features in the dentition’ were most successful at correct identification. Orthodontic therapy causes morphometric changes in the dentition, which can make comparative identification difficult. Unique features in the dentition present before orthodontic treatment and persistent even after orthodontic treatment such as peculiar attrition facets, etc. can prove highly accurate in the identification.

Keywords

• forensic science
• orthodontic treatment
• disaster victim identification
• forensic odontologist
• orthodontic casts
• dental identifiers