What is my speciality: Forensic Odontology
When I decided to study forensic odontology for my post graduation, everybody had something or the other to say. But what I realised was that most of all people, including my contemporaries and teachers, did not know. Two years have passed since I completed my post graduation, that to with flying colours and I find myself still answering questions and explaining people what do I do.
“Is that even taught? What are the job prospects? Aren’t you deviating from your field? Have you worked on dead bodies? So basically you are like dentist of the dead. Isn’t it? Do you guys even get cases? So you are like that “Dr. Salunke” from “CID”?”... The list goes endless. No offense to our beloved “Dr. Salunke” from “CID” but believe me, sometimes I just lose it. When I dove into these uncharted waters, it was a leap of faith that I’ll learn something new. Though I had practised dentistry for just a little more than a year, I felt it was difficult for me to survive in the saturated market of dentistry India has now.
Forensic dentistry as it is defined “is that branch of dentistry which in the interest of justice, deals with the proper handling and examination of dental evidence and with the proper evaluation and presentation of dental findings”. By the time i learnt the subject, i realised that it is a field that has travelled a long way in time, from obscurity to nascence. For something as old in practice from the time of Ancient Romans and Medieval India, forensic dentistry is known by very few. As a matter of fact, i was surprised when one of our very learned senior colleagues Dr. J. P. Pillai shared how, while providing expert opinion on a case, he had to present books to the judge in the court of law, to show that this field exists.
Well, there’s nobody to blame. In a country where forensic science is still in a developing phase, an allied field of the same is expected to be in a stage no less than rudimentary. So, here I am doing my bit for the awareness of the subject among the common audience. We dentist spend a long time in studying teeth, gums and the mouth as a whole to deal with diagnosis, treatment prevention of disease in these parts of the body. Thus we are well-versed with their properties. Teeth are the strongest and the most durable tissue of the body. They are structurally distinctive in their composition and own the high resilience to decomposition, fire, and environmental exposure. Thus in some cases, the teeth become the only means of identification of an otherwise unrecognizable body. And identification is the foundation stone on which the speciality of forensic odontology is based.
The subtle as well as remarkable changes in teeth with the diversity of age, sex, ancestry and stature, the cardinal points of identification, are evident only to a dentist. Forensic odontology makes room as an important expertise for profiling an individual though estimation of age, sex, race and built.
Dentists' work on the smile of people gives them a very detailed idea of a face as a whole. Thus forensic odondologists can also act as specialist for facial reconstruction/approximation, a technique of making the face of a deceased individual from their skeletal remains through a synchronised application of artistry, anthropology, osteology, and anatomy.
An individual consults a dentist at least once in the lifetime. Here is when patient is observed and examined thoroughly and a dental record is produced. This record, preserved by the dentist, as per mandates or advice, comes very handy on an event of mass disaster- where it is difficult to identify an individual, presumable as a result of trauma, burning/charring, drowning, or decomposition. Thus forms a core area of forensic dentistry - disaster victim identification (DVI) through comparison. In fact, the INTERPOL considers dental records as important as fingerprints and DNA for identification purposes. In fact the indestructibility of teeth makes them an excellent source of DNA as well.
Moreover, constant exposure on teeth as a result of food, occupation and habits, tend to leave a subsequent impression on the tissues. This makes teeth good source to determine a person’s socio-economic status, behaviour, livelihood, diet, health status and cultural associations. Abrasions as distinct as that in incisors of carpenters, tailors and workmen; dental jewelleries; tobacco stains, and other such individual characteristics have proved to be deciding factors in much identification.
Age estimation proves to be a critical core area in forensic dentistry. Dental development is commences before birth inside the mother’s womb and prolongs though eruption of milk teeth and the mixed dentition stage of childhood, adolescence and till the early twenties when the so called “wisdom teeth”. Hence dental age estimation has been proved to be scientific, distinctive, economical as well as fairly accurate among other methods. With many laws in the nation based on the age of an individual- the child labour laws, right to education, juvenile justice, voting, the POCSO (protection of children from sexual offences) act, marriage, and foeticide - knowing one’s age has become decisive. As dishonesty has also increase in the field of sports and other job as well as educational applications, the significance of age estimation has grown more and more to legal authorities.
While there are civil areas where forensic dentistry is imperative in application, the subject also has a handy role to play in criminal cases. We have already discussed that teeth do tell a story about the habits and profession, among other things. Many crimes also involve struggle and violence where teeth are used as a weapon, since our primal instincts take over in such scenario. Therefore bite marks and lip prints, play their role in criminal investigations, not only by the individuality they possess but also providing crucial serological evidence in saliva. The class characteristics of bite marks often help in excluding innocents and zeroing down potential suspects. Moreover, malpractice and negligence are not new in dentistry. As such forensic odontologists can act as effective liaison between the patient, doctor and the lawyer.
Doctor also work in insurance companies and third party administrator firms (TPA), to examine and investigate medical claim documents for fraudulence, discrepancies and genuinity. Dentists are also eligible for such jobs considering we study all subjects of medicine for the first 3 years of our curriculum. Forensic odondologists may have an edge over their contemporaries due to their training and education in an investigatory field.
Being an applied science that relies on facts, along with being comparatively new, the scope of research on the field is as deep as one can fathom. In a country with thousands of ethnicities which are influence with climate, topography and cultural practices, new discoveries in forensic odontology in the Indian subcontinent is always essential to generate precise and population specific methods of identification and profiling.
Forensic odontology has been involved even throughout the history of India. Be it the identification of Jaichand, the ruler of Kanauj, by Muhammad Ghori during the 12th century, the identification of the suicide bomber in the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, or the role of the bite mark in the tragic Nirbhaya rape case of 2012, forensic odontology has upheld justice as well as brought closure to the families of the victims of disasters like the Uttarakhand flash floods in 2013. With institutes like, National forensic Sciences University, DY Patil University, SGM University, JSS University, and other such premiere institutions in the country starting post graduate courses in the subject, the subject is expected to grow. New forensic odontology expert are expected emerge to contribute more to the society as a whole. Sure the steps will be small ones, but the size of our steps does not matter, as long as we are in the right direction.
Very Well Said. And Yes Thanks For The Information.
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