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The importance of dental records in identification
Introduction
The identification of individuals brings together different areas of knowledge such as medicine,
anthropology, molecular biology and dentistry. Identification using the specific condition and
characteristics of dental features becomes indispensable, since teeth and restorative dental
work are resistant to fire and other changes that can take place following a person’s death,
and are therefore sometimes the only features on which the forensic examiner can rely. It is
very important, in order for dental identification to be effective, for good dental records to be
kept for each patient. Dental records need to be kept in a standardised format, using universal
nomenclature, so that they can be used and understood by everyone who might need to use
them. (i)
In view of the foregoing Argentina, through the National Office of Information Technology
(ONTI) 2 proposed the inclusion of biometric information to create a uniform language for dental
records to aid interpretation when those records are shared. That proposal was considered by
the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) 3 and the inclusion of dental records
in the standards document for the exchange of biometric data was unanimously approved.
The National Directorate of the ONTI is leading the “Dental Records” development group and
is currently working on defining the issue.
Historical summary
Dental knowledge has long been used in cases where identification by other means could not
be done, whether because of the advanced state of decomposition of the body, because one
is dealing with a large-scale catastrophe, because the individual is unrecognisable due to the
action of fire, or because, due to the length of time since death, only skeletal remains have
been found.
The man considered to be the father of forensic dentistry, Dr. Oscar Amoedo y Valdez, identified
the corpses of 40 victims of a fire at a charity bazaar in Paris in 1897 in which 126 people died. (ii)
However the first case of identification using the victim’s teeth dates back to 69 BC, when
Agrippina, the mother of Nero, identified her husband’s lover by certain characteristics of her
oral cavity. (iii)
In 1905, Guillermo Beckert Frambauer, second secretary of the German delegation in Santiago,
2 National Office of Information Technology (ONTI): National Office with responsibility to the Under Secretariat of Management
Technology in the Cabinet Secretariat in the Office of the Cabinet Chief of Staff, whose functions include the implementation of
strategies for technological innovation in government administration, the development of systems used in management procedures,
the setting of standards in connection with the incorporation of new technology into public organisations, collaboration with other
government agencies in the creation of information portals, and the promotion of the interoperability of the information networks
of State institutions. http://www.jgm.gov.ar/sgp/paginas.dhtml?pagina=27
3 National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST): non-regulatory federal agency within the US Department of Commerce. Its
mission is to promote State innovation and industrial competitiveness through improvement of measurement science, standards
and technology in ways that improve economic security and quality of life. http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/general_informa
tion.cfm
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