A comparative study of trends in human bite mark analysis methods: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective: This review is undertaken to analyze in depth the trends emerging in the approaches used in the identification, analysis and matching of human bite marks. This review helps to identify errors contributing to lack of high precision in results and hence the need for further research in the field. Methodology: Identification and matching of human bite marks and injuries can give a forensic scientist great value of results. Having importance in biometrics as well as in forensics the precise matching of patterns in a bite marks is a critical area of research are one of the most frequent form of human abuse and hence their analysis is the most demanding and complicated part of forensic dentistry. An excel sheet is maintained recording the reviewed papers details with the author’s name, publication date, research approach and conclusion. Inclusion and exclusion criteas are defined and the review follows the PRISMA statement requirements. Results: The review shows that technology can play a vital role in improving the accuracy of match. Clubbing two or more types of methods of approach leads to higher precision and hence can be presented in the court of law as an evidence. Conclusions: It is a humanitarian crisis if an innocent can be convicted on the wrong matching on a bite marks. Graduate dentists should be oriented about the importance of forensic bite mark data collection, identification and matching. Bite mark matching as a biometric identification is a relatively unexplored area of research.