Age is an important factor for all the human beings whether it is living or dead. It is useful for day-to-day life works such as educational purpose, governmental purpose, job purpose, medical purpose, crime investigation, court of law, clinical practices, research, and reconstructive identification purpose in case of dead individuals. Of many procedures for age estimation such as chronological age, bone age, mental age, and others, dental age estimation is considered to be an important procedure as tooth development shows less inconstancy than other developmental features or in relation to chronological age and also teeth are most tough and resilient part of the skeleton. High survivability of teeth exposed to severe physical factors, such as fire and water immersion, make assessment of developing teeth the method of choice in forensic age estimation. Age estimation using teeth can be divided into three categories of age groups: prenatal, neonatal, and early postnatal period; children and adolescents; and adults. Children are defined as the human beings from birth to puberty and adolescents as from puberty to approximately age of 20 years. Hence, the motive is to overview for dental age estimation in children and adolescents from different techniques.

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In these digitized surroundings, we should not overlook the use of three-dimensional (3D) printing in forensic odontology, for investigative or court purposes, which is still comparatively new. We will use the term “3D printing” as it is widely recognized and will perhaps be the simplest phrase for the odontologist for daily use. Alternative terms are additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping. Today, 3D printing is most commonly used in dentistry for the manufacture of drill guides for dental implants, study models for prosthodontics, orthodontics and surgery, the manufacture of dental, craniomaxillofacial and orthopedic implants, and the fabrication of copings and frameworks for implant and dental restorations. However, we are yet to see forensic odontologists, lawyers, and expert witnesses appreciate embrace the advantages of 3D printing for its use in court of law. This may be due to a perception of it being complicated technology, high cost, or simply a lack of understanding of what can be done with 3D printing. 3D image capture devices minimize the amount of angular distortion, therefore such a system has the potential to create more robust forensic evidence for use in courts and medico-legal cases. The major application of 3D printing in forensic odontology includes bite mark analysis, 3D-computed tomography facial reconstruction, dental age estimation, sex determination, and physical models. The aim of this review article is to outline the use and possible benefits of 3D printing in forensic odontology.

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One of the major roles of the forensic odontologist in identification is age estimation. There are a wide range of methods available in literature for age estimation. Methods have been tested on different populations, modified, and remedied. Contradictions and discrepancies between researchers often occur when the same method is applied and gives different results. There are a lot of factors leading to these discrepancies, mainly the lack of standardization of methods and procedures. However, this can be challenging because of differences in population ethnicity. Irrespective of these drawbacks, accuracy and reliability still need to be maintained. This article aims to review the limitations of various techniques used in forensic odontology, challenges faced as well as future recommendations.

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Background and Objectives: Identification is of paramount importance in medicolegal investigations. Identification means the determination of the individuality of a person. This study involved the recording of lip and fingerprints of 50 males and 50 females in the age group of 18–24 years to assess their distribution in the gender groups and to evaluate the reliability of lip and fingerprint patterns in gender determination. Materials and Methods: The individuals were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The procured prints were scanned and analyzed for uniqueness and gender determination using Adobe Photoshop CS5 software (Adobe Systems Incorporated, San Jose, California, USA). Statistical analysis was done using statistical mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test, Student's unpaired t-test (P < 0.05), and Cohen's Kappa test. Results: The most frequent lip print pattern was Type IV in males and Type I' in females. The most frequent fingerprint pattern was ulnar loop in the total population, as well as in the sex-wise distribution. Individuals with mean fingerprint ridge densities in the range of 10–12/25 mm² were predominantly males whereas those >14/25 mm² were predominantly females. Conclusion: Fingerprint ridge density was found to be a more reliable tool in estimating the gender of an unknown individual than lip print.

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"Dead men do tell tales” – William R Maples Identification of the dead is an integral part of obtaining justice, where crime is concerned and to provide closure to bereaving families. Various identification techniques have been developed to assist in identification of remains, especially using radiographs. This review aims at delving into the use of frontal sinus as an aid in the identification process, the pros and cons, and the future of this parameter in the field of identification.

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Background: Dermatoglyphics are the patterns of the skin ridges on pads of fingers which constitute a person's fingerprints. Several studies have shown that there exists a relationship between dermatoglyphics and dental diseases and conditions such as dental caries, periodontal disease, and malocclusion. The study aimed to determine the relationship between dermatoglyphics and tooth loss. Materials and Methods: The study comprised 100 patients, including fifty dentulous and fifty edentulous participants. The fingerprint patterns of the participants were recorded by a single investigator with a rolling impression technique using duplicating ink on an executive bond paper. Dermatoglyphic patterns of all ten palmar digits were recorded using Cummins and Midlo method. The level of significance was set as P < 0.05. Results: The study showed that in dentulous patients, there was a highest prevalence of whorl pattern (50.8%), followed by ulnar loop (45.2%), radial loop (3.2%), and arch (0.8%) patterns. The prevalence of pattern was similar for edentulous patients; however, the prevalence of whorls reduced to 49.8%, ulnar loops to 37.4%, and radial loops to 2.8% whereas the prevalence of arch patterns increased to 10%. Conclusion: The whorl pattern was the most prevalent pattern among both dentulous and edentulous patients followed by ulnar loop pattern. The present study showed that ulnar loop pattern was most prevalent in the fifth digit of both right and left hands of edentulous patients whereas the ulnar loop was prevalent in the third digit of both right and left hands of dentulous patients.

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Background: Forensic science often uses the skeletal, dental remains as sources for human identification. Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between males and females of the same species. This study is designed to compute a new formula for sex determination using discriminant function analysis in the deciduous crown dimensions of a paediatric population of Erode district. Methodology: The sample consisted of 146 females and 218 males of South Indian origin aged between 3 and 5 years. Alginate impressions of the upper and lower dental arch were made and casts were poured immediately. A digital vernier calliper was used to obtain measurements. Teeth considered for measurement were all deciduous teeth. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science version 21.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: By using the Student t-test, the different predictor variables of teeth selected between male and females were found to be significant (P < 0.05). Significant sexual dimorphism was found in Lower canine Bucco lingual (LCBL), Upper central incisor Bucco lingual (UCIBL), Upper 2nd molar Bucco lingual (UM2BL) and Upper lateral incisor Distal (ULIMD). Conclusion: The formula derived from the present study could be of great value in sex determination of paediatric populations of Erode district.

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Introduction: Palatal rugae are the ridges on the anterior part of the palatal mucosa, present on each side of the median palatal raphe and behind the incisive papilla also. Various studies on different populations reported the unique ruga patterns within each population, which have a significant role in personal identification. Aim: The aim of the present study is to determine the different patterns and number of rugae in north Indian and North-East Indian populations. Material and Method: The sample size of the study includes 120 students aged 18–24 years and was divided into two groups comprising sixty north Indian and sixty North-East Indian students, respectively, based on population, with equal gender (thirty males and thirty females in each group) distribution. The variation in rugae pattern was analyzed according to Thomas and Kotze classification. Results: The results of the present study show that there was a significant difference present in the number of rugae in north and North-East Indian populations, with P = >0.05. The predominant shape observed was sinusoidal which was significantly higher in North-East Indian population comparative to North Indian population. Conclusion: It may be concluded that the ruga pattern may be an additional method of differentiation between the north Indian and North-East Indian populations. A larger multi-ethnic study could be undertaken to validate this claim among various cross ethnic groups.

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Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate whether sexual dimorphism (SD) can be established by odontometric study of permanent maxillary canine teeth as well as intercanine width (ICW). Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the Department of Forensic Science, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad. The sample for the study comprised 600 canine teeth on 150 maxillary and 150 mandibular dental casts, obtained from 50 patients each from Bareilly, Lucknow, and Allahabad cities. The casts were poured in dental stone or die stone after taking impressions of the maxillary and mandibular arch using alginate material. The mesiodistal diameter (MD) of the crown of permanent maxillary and mandibular canine both on the right and left sides and ICW were measured on the cast with Digital Vernier Caliper. The percentage of SD was assessed for all the parameters. Results: The parameter which showed maximum SD was maxillary MD on both right and left sides and observed in Lucknow and Allahabad. In Bareilly, the maximum dimorphic parameter was maxillary and mandibular ICW which has the highest values of SD among all. Conclusion: The present study supports that there exists a significant SD in maxillary and mandibular canines. However, values are population specific and have shown varying output and degree of SD.

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