A qualitative and quantitative survey of forensic odontologists in England and Wales, 1994

Forty forensic odontologists in England and Wales, as listed for the British Association for Forensic Odontology in Spring 1994, were surveyed by post. The 27 responses received, representing 67.5 per cent of those surveyed, were collated. The aims of the survey were to establish the distribution of experience between those forensic odontologists; to confirm the geographic areas covered by them; to establish the most likely source of introduction to forensic work; to ascertain the proportion of work involving court appearances; to establish a pattern of trends or common risk factors, if any, of susceptibility towards bitemark injury in respect of motive, age, gender, race, socioeconomic factors, and family background in relation to child abuse and adult sexual assault; and to establish if there are preferential sites for bitemark injury according to motive. The survey concluded that most of the work is almost exclusively conducted by a few forensic odontologists, with little or no experience gained for the majority of those available.