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. 2012 Jul 1;30(1):1-12.

Forensic odontology in the disaster victim identification process

P Pittayapat  1 , R Jacobs, E De Valck, D Vandermeulen, G Willems
Affiliations

Forensic odontology in the disaster victim identification process

P Pittayapat et al. J Forensic Odontostomatol. .

Abstract

Disaster victim identification (DVI) is an intensive and demanding task involving specialists from various disciplines. The forensic dentist is one of the key persons who plays an important role in the DVI human identification process. In recent years, many disaster incidents have occurred that challenged the DVI team with various kinds of difficulties related to disaster management and unique situations in each disaster. New technologies have been developed to make the working process faster and more effective and the different DVI protocols have been evaluated and improved. The aim of this article is to collate all information regarding diagnostic tools and methodologies pertaining to forensic odontological DVI, both current and future. It can be concluded that lessons learned from previous disaster incidents have helped to optimize working protocols and to develop new tools that can be applied in future DVI operation. The working procedures have been greatly improved by newly developed technologies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
Temporary mortuary in Thailand after the tsunami in 2004
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Photographs of dental structures together with body number must be taken during the post mortem examination.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The identification team, working during Tsunami identification process, putting all AM and PM data into the Plass Data® software. The system matches two datasets (AM and PM) and the matches will be discussed again in the reconciliation board.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Several portable dental x-ray devices are available on the market nowadays. (1) Nomad® (Aribex, Utah, USA) was first introduced in 2005 in the identification process after Tsunami disaster. (2) AnyRay® (VATECH Co., Ltd., Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea), (3) Rextar® (Sungwon Econet, Seoul, Republic of Korea) (4) ADX4000 (DEXCOWIN Co., Ltd. Seoul, Republic of Korea)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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