A multidisciplinary approach to forensic biological profiling on a single tooth and nail sample

Analysis of a single tooth and nail can provide valuable forensic information, including year of birth, year of death, age, sex, DNA-profile, geographic residence during childhood and at time of death and drug exposure. The aim is to minimize the amount of used bodily material and to validate the applicability of a multidisciplinary sampling protocol.

A nail of the big toe, a tooth and blood of seven deceased individuals were collected postmortem. Collected materials were sampled and segmented in accordance with the multidisciplinary sampling protocol. DNA analysis was conducted on the pulp of the tooth, isotope analysis (Sr, Pb, O and C) on the enamel and ¹⁴C-, toxicological and tooth cementum annulation analysis on root segments. DNA-, isotope (Sr, Pb, O and C) -, toxicological-, and ¹⁴C -analysis were conducted on toenail segments. The acquired DNA profiles were compared with profiles acquired from blood.

Material from seven deceased persons was analysed. 45 out of 56 analyses on dental samples were successful, constituting a success rate of 80%. Additionally, 27 out of 35 analyses were successful on nail samples, yielding a success rate of 77%. DNA-, toxicological and ¹⁴C- analyses performed better in nail than in tooth. Isotope analyses performed better in tooth than in nail. A profile with personal characteristics was constructed and matched for 62% of parameters with collected medical information.

The performed sampling protocol for simultaneous multidisciplinary forensic analysis on a single tooth and nail sample provided applicable results and valuable information.