dinsdag 27 september 2011

Learn More About The Forensic Dentist

By Mark Tennison


What is forensic dentistry? It is all about the exact handling, the examination and the evaluation of evidence pertaining to the teeth. When an examination is conducted of the teeth, this is for the purpose of identifying a person. In this field the dental records are considered post mortem photographs and it is taken by the forensic dentist. Again, these are used to help identify a person. But that is not all there is to forensic dentistry. The bite marks left on the attacker's skin can be matched to the teeth of the victim.

Teeth are very reliable tools for identification because teeth are so resilient. The enamel of the tooth is the hardest substance in the body making it able to withstand, water, fire, and outdoor elements.

The forensic dentist help with the identification of found human remains, the identification of individuals in mass fatalities, the assessment of bite mark injuries, the assessment of cases of abuse of a spouse, child or elder, civil cases involving malpractice, where the forensic dentists Prahran explains how a dentist's actions were harmful to the plaintiff, and age estimation.

How do they learn about the age of a person through the teeth? It is through the evaluation of the patterns of tooth eruption and the wearing of the tooth. They know that cementum, the mineralized tissues lining the roots, show annual patterns of deposition.

Sometimes a body may be so badly burnt, decayed or destroyed, that the only clearly identifiable part left are the teeth. The more common means of identification through study of the fingerprints or face are then not possible. The teeth can be matched to dental records and can help in the person being identified. This procedure is called comparative identification and involves the matching of the dental records with photographs of the mouth of the deceased person. Forensic dentists base their identification decisions on teeth size, rotations, spacing between teeth and sinus patterns. Information about the circumstances of the death or the body gives clues as to the identification of the person, and this can then be verified by the use of the dental records.

Where the dental records are not available, and there is no clue as to the identity of the deceased, an after death record (post mortem) of the teeth is completed. This gives an idea of some of the characteristics of the dead person to help narrow down the search for the identity of that person.

However not all dental procedures can be relied upon a hundred percent all of the time. One of these is the bite mark analysis or testing. The reason behind this is that the dental profiles of individual can and may change through the years. This can be brought about by dental accidents, by missing teeth, and other imperfections. On the other hand, if the victim of physical abuse can quickly subject himself to bite mark analysis then there is still a good chance that proper identification of the criminal can be made.

A forensic dentist can assist the justice system to help answer questions about the identity and interactions between people at the scene of a crime or disaster. This sort of information collected and analyzed by such a specialized dentist Melbourne can be of the utmost value in achieving justice for the victim of a crime.




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