DIVERSITY OF DENTAL PATTERNS IN PANORMAIC RADIOGRAPH FOR FORENSIC

INDENTIFICATION – A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY.

ABSTRACT:

INTRODUCTION:

Forensic science involves identification of a person at a site of crime scene or mass disaster with
the help of remains of the victim. In most cases, Fingerprints and DNA were most dependable
evidence which is used in forensic identification. But in certain mass disasters and cases where the
individual’s body is decomposed or disfigured, the above mentioned methods are not so accurate
and cannot be totally dependable for recognition of deceased individual. In such cases, teeth play
a major vital role in forensic recognition because it is the hardest substance in the body which can
withstand various major changes and therefore they possess unique characters which make it an
important valuable tool in forensic identification of the individual [1].

Forensic odontology is a branch of Forensic science which involves the use of dentist’s skill in
person identification in most of the natural disasters and crime cases. Forensic dentistry is “a
branch of forensic science that deals with proper handling and examination of dental evidences in
order to provide a presentation of dental finding and to evaluate in the interest of serving
justice”[2]. Identification of individual with help of dental remains depends on the records
obtained by the means of radiographs, ante-mortem and post-mortem records and DNA profiling
obtained from tooth. This process involves identification in three ways. One is comparative
identification. Second one involves reconstructive identification. Last method involves the
implication of DNA profiling [3].

Dental radiographs are the main source of forensic identification. These radiographs can be those
which are taken for routine clinical evaluation, treatment planning and so on. While taking into
account of those radiographs for forensic purpose, panoramic radiographs are the ones which are
preferred as it provides the view of maxilla, mandible and the regions around the jaw with dentition
in a single x ray film. Many attempts have been done by certain researchers to construct dental
patterns by creating a certain set of parameters for every single tooth [4, 5]. The aim of this study
is to define dental parameters and to create dental patterns as seen in panoramic radiographs and
the objective of this study is to identify different dental patterns and to evaluate inter-observer
reliability in assessment of those parameters.

KEY WORDS: Orthopantomograph, Forensic Identification, Dental Pattern, Impacted tooth,

Virgin tooth.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This is a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted with the help of Orthopantomograph

(OPG’s) collected from those patients who visited Department of Oral Medicine, Saveetha Dental
College and Hospitals for their routine dental check-up. Randomly selected 350 radiographs were
initially planned for identifying dental parameters and to create dental patterns.

Inclusion criteria:

1. Radiographs with permanent dentition were only considered.

2. Radiographs which have good diagnostic quality are only used.
3. Radiographs where there is impacted third molar were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria:

1. Radiographs with associated pathologies.

2. Radiographs of primary or mixed dentition.
3. Radiographs which are imprecise or of distorted quality were excluded.

After considering these inclusion and exclusion criteria, 259 randomly selected radiographs were
used for identifying dental pattern in different individuals. Among these 259 radiographs, 185
radiographs belonged to male and the rest 74 radiographs belonged to female with their ages
ranging from 21 to 81. They were again divided into seven age groups; Group 1(21-30 years),
Group 2 (31-40 years), Group 3(41-50 years), Group 4(51-60 years), Group 5(61-70 years), Group
6(71-80 years) and Group 7(81-90 years).
Dental patterns were created by using the codes for various dental parameters given by Lee et al
[5]. To produce a dental pattern for an individual, the panoramic radiographs were divided into
sextants namely Maxillary right posteriors, Maxillary anteriors, Maxillary left posteriors,
Mandibular right posteriors, Mandibular anteriors and Mandibular left posteriors. Each tooth was
examined in these regions and the code was given for each tooth was recorded in Microsoft excel
workbook.

To evaluate inter-examiner reliability, 80 randomly selected radiographs fulfilling those above

mentioned inclusion and exclusion criteria were given to another examiner. The other examiner
who examines these radiographs is none other than a dental maxillofacial radiologist. The patterns
obtained from the analysis were tabulated. The results obtained for both individual examination
and inter examiner reliability were statistically analyzed.

REFERENCE:

1. Pretty IA, Sweet D. A look at forensic dentistry--Part 1: The role of teeth in the
determination of human identity. Br Dent J. 2001; 190:359-66.
2. Keiser Neilsen S. Person identification by means of teeth. Bristol: John Wright and Sons;

1980. p.668‑81.

3. Shahin KA, Chatra L, Shenai P. Dental and craniofacial imaging in forensics. J Forensic
Radiol and Imaging 2013; 1: 56-62.
4. Bhateja S, Arora G, Katote R. Evaluation of adult dental patterns on orthopantomograms
and its implication for personal identification: A retrospective observational study. J
Forensic Dent Sci. 2015; 7:14-7.
5. Lee SS, Choi JH, Yoon CL, Kim CY, Shin KJ. The diversity of dental patterns in the
orthopantomography and its significance in human identification. J Forensic Sci 2004;
49:784-6.
6.