Future project concerning mass disaster management: a forensic odontology prospectus

Abstract

The world has experienced a plethora of mass disasters in recent years: acts of terrorism, bombings, earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, air crashes and other transportation mishaps, not to mention armed conflicts and migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. In reviewing mass disasters to date, the principal difficulties have not changed: (1) large numbers of humans fragmented, co-mingled, and burned remains; (2) difficulty in determining who was involved in the disaster; (3) acquisition of useful medical and dental records and radiographs; (4) legal, jurisdictional, organisational, and political issues; (5) internal and external documentation and communication problems; (6) application of universal human forensic identification codes. Forensic dentistry plays a major role in victim identification. DNA and dental identification of human remains depends on sufficient availability of ante mortem information, existence of sufficient post mortem material and a comparison or match between ante and post mortem details. Forensic odontology is a specialty with a specific training, and cannot simply be carried out by dentists without such training. Strategies for developing an international forensic odontology capacity and resources are needed for the management of dead bodies following a mass disaster, together with universal guidelines and codes. To this end, Interpol's forms have proved to be a good starting point to meet these requirements.