Comparative Study of Three Different Methods of Overlay Generation in Bite Mark Analysis

Bite mark is considered as a pattern produced by human or animal dentition in any substance capable of being marked by those means. Bite marks may be found at the crime scene and overlays generated from these bite marks are being used for comparison with the dentition of the suspect. This study was aimed to evaluate and compare three overlay generation techniques i.e. wax-impression, radiographic and computer assisted methods and validate the best method of overlay generation. Impressions of maxillo-mandibular arches were made and study models were prepared in dental stone. Overlays were generated by aforesaid three methods and overlays generated by each method were compared. Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA H test was used for comparison of the three methods and computer generated overlays were found to be the best as the H value was highest in this case. Computer assisted method of overlay generation proved to be the best method of overlay generation and should be widely used for bite mark analysis in future as it is free from subjectivity incorporated in other techniques.