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ePaper created 2015-03-07, 18:13:20 | version 1.33.01
I special _ forensic odontology _Nowadays, most people will associate forensic dentistry primarily with identification and bite mark analysis. These areas do indeed form the majority of anodontologist’sworkload.Thereare,however,other aspectsofthedisciplinethatarejustasimportantbut perhaps less well known. These include cranio-facial trauma analysis, age estimation for both living and deceased individuals, dental manifestations of child abuse, dental malpractice investigations, as well as dental insurance fraud. Forensic odontology is an integral part of the medico-legal process. With this comes a responsibil- ity borne by forensic odontology practitioners for the requisiteeducation,qualificationsandongoingtrain- ing. Courts and legal institutions now require that we haveevidence-basedresearchuponwhichwecanrest our findings and conclusions. In addition to knowl- edgeofthelaw,wehavetohaveknowledgeofhuman anatomyanditsrelationshiptoinjurypatternsandin- terpretation. Knowledge of bite mark patterns due to assault,traumaandsexualabuse,aswellaschildabuse injurymanifestations,isalsorequired,asisknowledge ofassessmenttechniquesusedwhentheageofanin- dividual is unknown. Finally, there is a need to have knowledge of human identification methods, princi- ples and practices, as well as mass disaster identifica- tion procedures and protocols, and the ethical issues involvedintheexaminationandmanagementofdead bodies,andtohaveanunderstandingofhumanrights issues involved in war crimes investigations. Alloftheserequirethoroughknowledgeofcranio- facial anatomy, dental anatomy, dental and skeletal development, injury interpretation and medico-legal report writing. It is also important to have a good understanding of the law relating to the practice of dentistry,thecoronialsystem,andthecriminaljustice system. As the majority of the forensic odontology caseload concerns the identification of unknown deceased individuals, most discussion in this article will concentrate on this. Honouring the dead is a fundamental precept in allsocieties.Theextentofthiscommunalattentionto the deceased varies across the world, but in essence every person hopes that his or her remains will be treated with respect after death. This respect for the dead includes, for many societies, robust identifica- tion of the deceased so that relatives and friends are able to treat the remains with appropriate ceremony and are able to visit the resting place of the deceased whenever they wish. So important is the perception of personal identification in almost all societies that authorities will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that deceased individuals are not interred in un- marked graves, or cremated without a name. To be buried anonymously goes against all of our religious, cultural and ethical belief systems, and im- plies that a life unremembered and unmourned was reallyalifewithoutconsequence.WilliamGladstone, Prime Minister of Britain in the mid-1800s, encapsu- Figs. 1_Comparison of ante-mortem (AM) and post-mortem (PM) radiographs, leading to a positive identification. 32 I cone beam1_2015 Forensic odontology— Broader than just identification Author_ Dr Richard Bassed, Australia Fig. 1