Forensic Odontology: The Role of Dentist

Dentistry has much to offer law enforcement in detection and solution of crime or in civil proceedings. Most often role of dentist is to establish a person's identity. Teeth, with their physiologic variations, pathoses and effects of therapy, record information that remains throughout life and beyond. The teeth may also be used as weapons and under circumstances, may leave information about the identity of the biter. Dental professionals have a major role to play in keeping accurate dental records and providing all necessary information so that legal authorities may recognize malpractice, negligence, fraud or abuse, and identify unknown humans. Dental identifications have always played a key role in natural and manmade disaster situations and in particular the mass causalities. In this review article roles and responsibilities of dentist and use of human dentition and surrounding structures to enable the identification of found human remains will be discussed.