The use of panoramic images for identification of edentulous persons

The aim of this study was to determine if edentulous persons could be identified using panoramic images by: I) investigating the possibility of matching two panoramic radiographs of the same person obtained on two different occasions, II) determining what anatomical features are used as the base for matching, III) investigating if oral and maxillofacial radiologists (OMR) and dentists who were not oral and maxillofacial radiologists (NOMR) differed in their ability to match the images, and IV) determining if the time elapsed between the images affected the results or the confidence of the match. Panoramic image pairs from 19 patients obtained on two different occasions were included, plus 10 images from other edentulous patients. The time elapsed between the image pairs varied between 4 months and 6 years. Four OMR and four NOMR were asked to match the image pairs depicting the same patient. The participants marked each match as "certain", "likely", or "possible" and what anatomical structure they used for matching. The OMR group correctly matched 100% of the images and the NOMR group correctly matched 96%. The anatomy of the mandible was most often used for matching. The OMR group was more certain in their decisions than the NOMR group. The time elapsed between the examinations did not affect the result. In conclusion, panoramic images can be used to identify edentulous patients. Both OMR and NOMR could identify edentulous individuals when only panoramic radiographic images were available and the OMR were especially confident in the identification process.