Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jan;6(1):58-61.
doi: 10.4103/0975-1475.127774.

Forensic odontology as a victim identification tool in mass disasters: A feasibility study in the Indian scenario

Shamindra Sengupta  1 , Vandana Sharma  2 , Vineeta Gupta  2 , Hitesh Vij  2 , Ruchieka Vij  2 , Kanika Prabhat  2
Affiliations

Forensic odontology as a victim identification tool in mass disasters: A feasibility study in the Indian scenario

Shamindra Sengupta et al. J Forensic Dent Sci. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the awareness of practicing dentists about the subject of forensic odontology and to assess their willingness to maintain and share patient records.

Materials and methods: A blind questionnaire survey was carried out among 100 randomly selected practicing dentists in district Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Results: Most of the dentists interviewed were familiar with the subject of forensic odontology and its relation to dentistry, despite forensic dentistry having been newly introduced since 2007 into the undergraduate dental curriculum in India. However, dental records are maintained by only a few dentists, and only a very small percentage of them reported to have shared records, which may have helped in the identification of victims in a mass disaster.

Conclusion: The result of our survey concluded that more awareness needs to be developed among practicing dentists regarding maintaining and sharing patient records for forensic odontology to succeed as a victim identification tool.

Keywords: dental records; forensic odontology; mass disaster.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

References

    1. Caldas IM, Magalhães T, Afonso A. Establishing identity using cheiloscopy and palatoscopy. Forensic Sci Int. 2007;165:1–9. - PubMed
    1. Saxena S, Sharma P, Gupta N. Experimental studies of forensic odontology to aid in the identification process. J Forensic Dent Sci. 2010;2:69–76. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rajendran R, Sivapathasundharam B. 6th ed. India: Elsevier; 2009. Shafer's Textbook of Oral Pathology; p. 871.
    1. Acharya AB. Teaching forensic odontology: An opinion on its content and format*. Eur J Dent Educ. 2006;10:137–41. - PubMed
    1. Higgins D, James H. Classifications used by Australian forensic odontologists in identification reports. J Forensic Odontostomatol. 2006;24:32–5. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources