Forensic dentistry is also termed as forensic odontology. It is the application of dental and paradental knowledge to elucidation of legal issues in civil and in criminal matters. In other words, it is branch of odontology which deals with the proper examination of dental evidence and the proper evaluation and presentation of dental findings in the interest of justice. The father of forensic odontology is Dr.Oscar Amoeda.
A new era of forensic dentistry was began in 17th century that when a body was identified from its dental details of the deceased personally known to dentist but a practical application was started in 19th century, when a criminal was convicted on the basis of dental evidence.
The hypothesis behind forensic dentistry is that no two mouths are alike (even identical twins are different), and that teeth leave recognizable marks like tools.
Forensic dentistry delve into
• Identification of the living or the deceased
• Identification , analysis and comparison of Bite mark, Lip print, Rugae print and patterned injury
• Identification of dental specimens which are collected at crime scene or elsewhere
• Evaluation of oro-facial trauma
• Malpractice and negligence claims
Forensic odontology is divided in to three sections: Civil, criminal and research. Civil odontology is concerned with malpractice and all aspects which may ultimately lead to criminal charges in the form of fraud. Identification of a living person i.e., loss of memory. Criminal section is the identification of persons from their teeth of living or dead.
The role of forensic odontology is routine identification, mass disasters, bite mark evidence, child abuse, Age estimation, Sex determination and civil litigation
The specific uses of odontology are the bite marks frequently produced upon victims of child abuse. The organizations of forensic odontology are American board of forensic odontology (ABFO), International organization for forensic odonto-Stomatology (IOFOS) and Bureau of legal dentistry (Bold).