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Articles » Odontology
Dental Remains as Forensics Investigator's Aid
Olga Nekrasova
The term "burned beyond recognition" is used when an individual's body cannot be identified as a result of death in a fire. However, investigators have a way of "recognizing" the body through its dental remains. Forensic odontologists, specialists in dental remains or DNA, have to utilize identification methods that would keep the dental remains from breakage before all the useful information had been recorded and documented. It is a challenge for them since the soft tissues of the burned body become charred and very hard to manipulate.
Charred teeth tend to fall apart unless handled very carefully. They have to be broken with heavy force, which often destroys the dental remains entirely. One good way to identify how fragile the remains are is to look at the color. The ashen gray teeth are generally more brittle than the blackened ones. The enamel on the anterior surface of the anterior dental remains is known to crack off very easily, because those are the teeth that are most exposed to fire.
It is crucial to record all the useful information before the remains fall apart. Once a tooth breaks into pieces, it is nearly impossible to reconstruct it accurately enough for identification process, to take radiographs, impressions or photographs, which would serve as postmortem evidence. An accurate, systematic approach to preserve dental remains is very important in the process of identification of charred persons successfully.
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Journal of Forensic Sciences
Burned Beyond Recognition : Systematic Approach to the Dental Identification of Charred Human Remains.
Veronigues F Delattre, D.D. S.
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