Personal identification through dental evidence--tooth fragments to DNA

The most common role of the forensic dentist is the identification of deceased individuals. Comparative dental identification is used to establish to a high degree of certainty that the remains of a decedent and a person represented by antemortem dental records are the same individual. In cases where no antemortem information is available, a postmortem dental profile is completed by the forensic dentist from studies of the teeth, jaws and related facial structures so investigators can narrow the search for antemortem records to a specific population pool. Important clues in resolving the case are available if antemortem data can be obtained for comparison with the postmortem findings. In this article, these responsibilities of the forensic dentist are discussed along with the recent advances in forensic DNA technology that employ dental evidence to assist in resolving violent crimes.