Enhancement of Orientation of Dental Specialist in Forensic Odontology

Objective: The purpose of the article is to facilitate and enhance awareness of dentists in forensic odontology. Background: Forensic odontology is an integral part of forensic sciences. Knowledge of orofacial and dental features have been used successfully in furtherance of justice since hundred years. Mr. Suzuki, Gustafson, and Keiser-Nielson are among the many eminent persons who revolutionized the field especially in the identification of unidentifiable. Teeth marks are used successfully to identify criminals and presence of teeth in oral cavity to estimate age. Forensic odontology has been successfully employed to identify bodies in airplane crashes, mass disaster victims and in highly burned bodies. Forensic dentistry is not developed up to the required standards even in many developed countries and is in a rudimentary stage in developing countries. Unfortunately, it has not been considered important enough for teaching in regular bachelor s dentistry curricula and the result is that most of the dental graduates are not aware of the existence of forensic dentistry. It is strongly suggested that forensic odontology should be given its due wightage in dentistry bachelor s programme. In armed forces, it is mandatory to keep dental records and same should be practiced in civilian set ups by statute and dental societies should promote this branch of dentistry to achieve the goal. Keeping the dental records and their management accurately and carefully helps authorities to solve criminal and civil cases speedily.