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Articles » Odontology
Anti-Missile Technology And The Identification of Dead Bodies
Jane Miller
Anti-Missile technology may be able to help in identifying dead bodies. Recognition Solutions Inc. of Santa Teresa, New Mexico has developed copyrighted software that recognizes the unique characteristics of a person's skull when applied to head X-rays common in dentistry. This was one of the new products shown at the recent (May 2000) Forensic Sciences and Crime Scene Technology Conference and Exposition in Washington. The conference was the first international meeting of law enforcement officials who use various technologies to investigate crimes in their respective areas. The software's creator, Gary Bourgeois, a dentist, became interested in the identification of human remains when he helped out on a serial killing case in Texas during the late 1980's. He tried to identify remains through dental work, which he found ''quite painstaking.'' Also, some murderers specifically remove all the teeth or both jaws to keep a body from being identified. Bourgeois thought that there must be a more efficient method of identifying human remains. At this time, a computer engineer working for the federal government was designing a computerized means to photograph incoming missiles at one thousand frames per second and identify them by specific characteristics within a split second. Bourgeois realized that this same technology could be used to find skull landmarks on X-ray films taken of the head. These lateral head films exist for ''hundreds of thousands of individuals'' who have had dental surgery or orthodontics. This new technique, with a good database, could have wonderful potential for the world of forensic science.
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''Anti-Missile Technology may Help Identify Dead Bodies: A Skull's unique traits Mapped by Computer.'' Times-Picayune, New Orleans. May 21, 2000: A17.
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