Oral and paraoral structures; An aid for person identification: A review on forensic stomatology

Abstract

The identification of oral tissues, including bone and teeth remains, is of primary importance when the deceased person is skeletonized, decomposed, burned, or dismembered. Primary role in the identification of remains when postmortem changes, traumatic tissue injury or lack of a fingerprint record invalidate the use of visual or fingerprint methods in Forensic Odontology. Forensic medicine and odontology has become an integral part for investigations and identification over the past decades. Forensic odontology utilizes oral and paraoral findings to serve the judicial system to investigate the truth head-and-neck findings can be used for identification as using them is cost-effective, reliable, and fast. Forensic odontology is a branch of dentistry that analyzes dental evidence to overlap the dental and legal profession. The tooth has been used as an evidence in the identification of the biter, age estimation, and gender determination of the accused. The study of forensic stomatology helps in criminal, noncriminal, and research purposes.