Survey of dental diseases in forensic autopsy cases

Abstract

Forensic odontology plays an important role in the age estimation of a corpse. However, some cases exhibit a large margin of error when using conventional morphological methods. The final purpose of this study was to survey dental diseases to find the factors that result in errors in age estimation. First, we surveyed dental status related to dental caries in forensic autopsy cases to examine their characteristics. We investigated 335 forensic autopsy cases with accurate age and gender information available from autopsy and police reports. We assessed the number of teeth with caries, including the number of present teeth, missing teeth, sound teeth, treated teeth, untreated teeth, and the total number of carious teeth (DMF teeth: decayed, missing, and filled teeth).Then, each mean number of teeth from autopsy cases was compared with that from the results of a control survey of dental disease performed by Akita Prefecture. The autopsy cases, mainly in their 50’s, showed a significantly higher incidence of DMF teeth, missing teeth, and untreated teeth. They also showed lower incidence of treated teeth. The more severe carious status in the autopsy cases suggested that they did not regularly visit dental clinics while they were alive. We will continue to analyze their past physical disease histories, the causes of death, and their antemortem lifestyles to find the factors that lead to incorrect age estimation.