Objective: Radiographs of the frontal sinus have been used in personal identification due to its uniqueness configuration. Largely there has been little agreement regarding the reliability of frontal sinus in gender determination. This study was performed to verify the dependability of radiomorphologic features of the frontal sinus in the assessment of sexual dimorphism. Methodology: A total of 100 paranasal radiographs were evaluated for sexual dimorphic features including number of scallops on the sinuses' superior border, unilateral/bilateral presence or absence of partial septa, number of partial septa, and unilateral/bilateral presence or absence of supraorbital cells. Results: Application of discriminative analysis to the data accurately identified the gender in merely 65.7% of cases. Conclusion: Therefore the radiomorphologic features of frontal sinus alone have limited value in gender determination and may be used as an auxiliary method.

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Forensic odontology works in the interface between dentistry and law. Human identification is an important procedure performed by Forensic Dentists. The present study reports a case of dental human identification of a highly decomposed human body identified through the comparison of antemortem (AM) and postmortem (PM) panoramic radiographs. The AM radiograph was performed for planning dental implants, while the PM radiograph reproduced the same AM technique to enable a reliable comparative procedure. Radiographic dental similarities observed AM and PM led to a positive human identification. The importance of forensic odontology for legal purposes is highlighted and illustrated in the current study.

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Aim: This study aims to assess the knowledge and attitudes about indicators, legal issues, professional responsibilities, and reporting mechanisms toward child abuse among South Indian dental residents. Methods: A self-administered structured questionnaire comprising of 15 questions, was distributed to 170 dental residents belonging to three private dental teaching institutions in South India. The data collected was descriptively analyzed using Pearson Chi-square test. Results: A total of 158 dental residents responded to the distributed questionnaires, with a response rate of 93%. Among them, 55% were females (n = 87) and the males were 45% (n = 71), with majority of the participants (n = 82) above 23 years of age (52%). Greater part of respondents (95%) in this study has the knowledge about the indicators of child abuse; 13% suspected a case of child abuse although only 62% of them had reported the incident. Most of the dental residents (85%) knew about legal issues and professional responsibilities but knowledge related to the reporting mechanisms was lacking. Almost 85% desired further training on the identification and reporting mechanisms for suspicious cases of child physical abuse. Conclusion: Knowledge on the indicators of child abuse is inadequate among the dental residents, and most of them did not recognize or report a case. The reasons might be due to limitations in lecture-based learning which was not practiced in clinical settings. Therefore, more comprehensive education on the topic of child abuse including recognizing and reporting procedures should be reinforced in clinical settings.

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Background: Age estimation is critical for identification purposes in forensic medicine, with various methods have been proposed for age assessment. Aims: The present study aims to validate the effectiveness of age assessment by the Miles tooth wear chart, uniquely using skulls of recorded known age at death. Materials and Methods: Fifty Chinese skulls, of known age recorded at death, ranging from 16 to 62 years, were used. All the skulls were anonymized and outnumbered 1–50, using randomized tables. A 70 mm, ×3 magnification glass with light was used to evaluate tooth wear patterns, and the age was assessed using a newly devised “age calculator” based on the Miles chart. Statistical Analysis: Bland–Altman plots were used for statistical comparisons. Results: First and second molars and means of both allowed circa 86% of cases to be allocated within ±5 years of their actual age. Accuracy diminishes when skulls are over 40 years old at death. Conclusions: The Miles chart can, with caution, be used to arrive at a reasonable estimation of age in this Chinese population.

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Context: In fire accidents and cremation, fires may reach temperatures as high as 1150°C. In such circumstances, teeth and bones are the only remains which can help in personal identification, as teeth and restorations are unique to an individual. Aims: This study was conducted to assess morphological and radiographic appearances of teeth at various high temperatures. Settings and Design: This was an in vitro observational study; 160 extracted teeth were included in the study. The teeth were randomly classified into four groups of 40 teeth each. Teeth in Group 1 were retained without any restorations. A total of 60 teeth were endodontically sealed with zinc oxide eugenol sealer and restored with gutta-percha; coronal restorations were made with amalgam, light cure composite, or restorative glass ionomer cement. Radiographs of all teeth were obtained. Subjects and Methods: A burnout furnace was used for heating the teeth. Forty teeth each were heated to 200°C, 400°C, 600°C, and 800°C. The teeth and restorations were physically examined, and radiographs of all teeth were again obtained and correlated with the preincineration radiographs. Results: Teeth showed progressive discoloration from black to white, with the development of cracks and crowns shattered by 800°C. Restoration lost their marginal adaptation. On radiographs, initially, crowns developed fissures, followed by the roots. Conclusion: This study documented morphological and radiographic changes occuring in teeth when exposed to high temperatures.

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Background: Mandible is the only movable bone of the skull which provides an arena for age and gender determination. A normal variation of the condylar morphology that occurs with age, gender, facial type, and functional load has been established by few authors. It is still the incompletely explored quarter in anthropology and forensic science for gender determination. Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the reliability of mandibular anteroposterior condylar diameter for gender determination utilizing modified reverse panoramic radiographic technique. Materials and Methods: Reverse panoramic radiograph of 60 healthy randomly selected individuals (30 males and 30 females) was taken between the age group of 25 to 45 years. Anteroposterior maximum diameter of both condyles (right and left) was recorded with Trophy Dicom Imaging software, and the values obtained were further subjected for statistical analysis. Results: Average anteroposterior diameter of condyle in male and female was observed, i.e., 10.21533 ± 0.99595 and 9.401667 ± 1.048026 mm, respectively, which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Although the present study is a pilot study, we can conclude that maximum anteroposterior diameter of the mandibular condyle can assist in gender determination. Modified reverse panoramic radiographic technique is a noble and practical tool in visualization of both condyles, which most of the times cannot be clearly visualized in orthopantomogram due to the overlapping of anatomical structures.

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Background: Age estimation is important in forensic medicine and odontology for identification of deceased victims and also for crimes and accidents. Various studies have compared the different morphological methods, biochemical methods and radiological methods of age estimation. However, no study has compared the accuracy of a nondestructive (radiographic) method with a destructive (histologic) method. Aim and Objectives: Aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of the age estimation using pulp to tooth area ratio by radiography and tooth cemental annulations by phase contrast microscopy. Materials and Methods: Eighty permanent single-rooted extracted teeth were utilized in the study. The radiographic age was estimated using the pulp/tooth area ratio; histologic age was estimated using tooth cemental annulations. The results of both the methods were compared to evaluate the more accurate method. Results: The correlation between actual age and estimated radiographic age was found to be r = 0.92, P = 0.00 (P < 0.001) and correlation between actual age and estimated histologic age was found to be r = 0.97, P = 0.00 (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Both the radiographic method and histologic methods can be efficiently used to estimate age, however; we found that the histologic method had better accuracy in age estimation.

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Objective of the Study: To evaluate the morphological variations of the coronoid process using Orthopantomograms in the western part of Maharashtra population. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out using 300 orthopantomograms (OPGs) comprised of both gender, the different shapes of the coronoid process were traced on both the right and left sides. The data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The most common shape of the coronoid process was observed to be triangular followed by beak shape, round shape and flat shape. Conclusion: Based on the present study in western population of Maharashtra, triangular shape of coronoid process was most common in males and females.

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Globally, the recent spate of terrorist attacks and natural disasters in which there have been multiple fatalities has reinforced the need for trained, experienced forensic odontologists and a police officer to coordinate the response to such events promptly and properly. The article reviews basic procedures and advances of dental identification and reports where dental identification played a vital role in the identification of the person.

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