Disaster Victim Identification: A strategical approach to set up a Dental Team

Abstract

The ultimate goal of the disaster victim identification team during a mass disaster situation is to make the correct identification of the victims before social closure to the families. There has been many methods are present to identify the bodies of which DNA analysis, fingerprint analysis and identification using dental records plays utmost role. Among these, the latter considered to be the most effective method and also takes comparatively less time than others. In western countries, there is a separate dental disaster victim identification unit within the team and it readily deploys to the disaster site during mass disasters. This team consists of a group of well-trained forensic odontologists and also works in collaboration with other forensic personnel. There is no such dental disaster victim identification team is present at a national level in countries like India. The aim of this article is to provide information regarding formation of the dental disaster victim identification team and it collates all the information regarding, personnel involved, roles and responsibilities, standard operating protocols, training, and so forth.