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. 2019 Dec 30;37(3):12-20.

Digital tooth reconstruction: An innovative approach in forensic odontology

A Johnson  1 , G Jani  1 , A Pandey  2 , N Patel  3
Affiliations

Digital tooth reconstruction: An innovative approach in forensic odontology

A Johnson et al. J Forensic Odontostomatol. .

Abstract

In mass disasters, accidents and crime investigations, where human remains are decomposed, charred or skeletonized, teeth may dislodge due to post-mortem loss or due to mishandling of evidence during the manipulation of skeletal and dental remains. Thus, the identification process is hampered due to the loss of dental evidence. In these situations, forensic tooth reconstruction may aid in the identification process. Forensic tooth reconstruction (FTR) refers to the process that aims to reconstruct the morphology of the missing tooth from the skeletal remains from the intra-alveolar morphology of the dental socket. The study is an innovative attempt to develop a digital approach to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) printed tooth models through recording intra-alveolar morphology of empty dental sockets which simulate the teeth which are missing post-mortem. An experimental study was conducted on the human mandible, where using volumetric scanning, 3D scanning and printing techniques the tooth was reconstructed from the intra-alveolar morphology of the socket. Through metric analysis and qualitative congruency testing it was established that there was minimal discrepancy between natural tooth and 3D printed tooth. It was determined that teeth missing post-mortem do not necessarily invalidate the identification process. Digital FTR gives accurate results with minimum error.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Occlusal view of human mandible; before removal of teeth (a) and after removal of teeth (b)
Figure 2a
Figure 2a
Phase 1- Acquisition of data by volumetric scanning (CBCT)
Figure 2b
Figure 2b
Phase 1- Three dimensional (3D) printed mandible model
Figure 3a
Figure 3a
Phase 2- Intra-alveolar impression of printed mandible
Figure 3b
Figure 3b
Phase 2, Surface scanned impression
Figure 4a
Figure 4a
Phase 2- Tooth reconstructed digitally using CAD software
Figure 4b
Figure 4b
Phase 2- 3D printed Tooth
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison with Natural Tooth
Figure 6
Figure 6
Radiographic assessment
Figure 7
Figure 7
Digital analysis of reconstructed tooth
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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