Dental Identification Using Digital Images via Computer Network

Abstract

Dental identification is a useful scientific method. In Japan, however, there are only a few forensic odontologists; moreover, until now, forensic dental services have only been offered by general dentists. These dentists may not be able to offer such forensic services during office time. For a quick comparison, the authors tried sending digital photos, taken with a 2-million-pixel digital camera, to dental offices via the Internet. If a dental office has Internet access, it is possible for dental charting to be sent directly to the autopsy room. Of course, digital images only provide the first outline. However, when antemortem dental records of the person in question are available at autopsy, a quick comparison can be made.

Forensic aspects of maxillofacial radiology

“…Dental interventions, especially restorative ones, in many cases provide unique identifiers that are common in ante mortem and post mortem examinations. The discriminatory individuality of the human dentition is well documented in the seminal work of Adams [3,4] and the reliability of dental radiographic identification is well documented in the literature either using conventional dental radiographs [5,6] or in web-based digital models [7,8].…”

Digital analysis of linear measurements related to the mental and mandibular foramina in sex determination

“…This approach is less time-consuming and allows the extra-oral examination of the dental status. [10,11] …”

The role of forensic dentist following mass disaster

“…In the United States of America, the decision on identity is the responsibility of coroner or medical examiner, in Britain identification is often left to private funeral companies that often employ specialists as staff members 25 . In Nigeria a country that has witnessed several episodes of fire disaster in the last two decades involving both aviation and petroleum industries by way of plane crashes and pipeline explosions, the response to mass disaster is handled by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) 26 …”