Forensic odontology: A peek into the mind of dentists

Abstract

Our study's objective was to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of forensic odontology in undergraduate and postgraduate students in Uttarakhand. This is a cross-sectional institution-based study conducted among a total of 465 undergraduate and postgraduate dental students in the state of Uttarakhand. These included 428 undergraduate and 37 post graduate students. Males 94 (20.2%) and females 371 (79.8%) aged between 18 to 40 years were included. A statistically significant difference was also found among the responses received on the questions whether forensic odontology played a role in mass disasters and if teeth could serve as a source of DNA amongst both the groups. 94.5% of the postgraduate respondents were aware of the significance of bite mark patterns of teeth as opposed to 54.4% of undergraduates which was also statistically significant. Our study revealed that postgraduate students had better knowledge, attitude and awareness about forensic odontology as compared to the undergraduate students. Both the groups together lacked adequate knowledge about forensic odontology but agreed that there is a scope in this field of dentistry and were interested in further courses to learn about the study of forensic odontology.