DENTISTS AND HUMAN IDENTIFICATION: THE IMPORTANCE OF DENTAL RECORDS

Abstract

Human identification involves comparing data from a body, ranging from structural integrity to advanced degrees of destruction, such as skeletonization, carbonization, or fragmentation. Data available in remains found trigger a search for ante-mortem information on missing persons. This work aims to demonstrate the importance of dental records in the human identification process, considering the richness of information within them and the uniqueness of human dental arches. The lifetime archiving of dental records has its legal basis in Brazil’s Consumer Protection Code. However, we seek to demonstrate how a well-designed, organized, and filed medical record may play a key role in identifying or not an individual. The well-performed filing and forensic activity work in the identification process is a service for the living population; that is, for the family of the deceased individual who, if not identified, will be part of the missing persons statistics. Documents comprising dental records are fundamental for effective human identification, besides having ethical and legal value.

Keywords

• forensic anthropology
• records
• forensic
• dentistry