Dental Science reveals high-tech methods to identify victims
Experts "with this technique instead of waiting a month for their return of their loved ones, just wait a few days"
February 11, 2011
Recent research in radiology and forensic medicine, are giving way to high-tech methods in dental science, resulting in large improvements in accuracy and time has correctly identified the deceased victims in mass disasters.
are two major developments, one from Spain and one from Japan, both regarded as particularly effective.
The painstaking and often strenuous task of identifying victims of mass disasters such as plane crashes, earthquakes, tsunamis or terrorism, means that forensic experts must compare each victim's records with countless dental records. The process can take weeks, months and can make mistakes.
Researchers at the University of Granada in Spain, reported this year in the journal Forensic Science International through a special method created by them, the patterns (teeth) or teeth of a person can serve as a reliable source to prove the identity of the victims, indicating that no two people have the same dental pattern.
Granada scientists have found that this method has the same reliability as evidence by DNA, police forensic technique used to reveal the identity of the corpses.
The research team led by Professor Martin de las Heras Stella Faculty of Forensic Medicine at the University of Granada, concluded after studying dental patterns More than 3,000 people.
"There is sufficient dental diversity among people to allow a scientifically based method for human identification can be developed and forensic purposes," said Dr. Martin de las Heras in a press release issued by the Foundation English Science and Technology, describing the study.
The research results were achieved by performing a statistical analysis of 3,166 complete and partial dentures, based on the data found in the three most recent national surveys of Oral Health (1993, 2000 and 2005 .) From these data, the team formed cases (with "conditional dental diversity") that form the core of his study.
The team eliminated the cases where people had all their teeth "complete and healthy," or where people had not a single tooth, as these were of no value for identification.
"The study results indicated variability values \u200b\u200bof 0.999 (on a scale of 0 to 1) which is comparable to the speed of a scientifically based method of identification as mitochondrial DNA," reported Dr. Martin de las Heras.
Using the results of the study to identify victims of a massive disaster, forensic experts would compare the dental pattern of the victim post mortem dental data of the person being alive.
This information is often provided by dentists, but doctors and family members can sometimes also be provided. Dr. Martin de las Heras and his team have developed software to assist in the comparison and identification of dental patterns.
In related research, 2007, radiologists in Japan reported on the development of a computerized dental X-rays, which can identify victims of mass disasters within minutes through dental information.
"Families are awaiting news of their loved ones experience trauma while waiting to be solved the identification process," said Eiko Kosuge dentist, radiologist, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Dental College Kanagawa in Japan, in a press release issued by the Radiological Society of North America on the technique of coincidence-image comparison that he and his colleagues developed.
"This new system can drastically reduce time and improve the accuracy of this process, and can also help relieve some of the emotional stress that occurs in the case of a mass disaster, "said Dr. Kosuge, adding that the system can reduce the amount of work required for the identifications by up to 95 percent.
The procedure uses a highly accurate technique that compares images and is called Single Phase Correlation (POC), which aligns dental imaging and their patterns and measure their similarity. The POC system then registers images, corrects distortion and calculates the results of the comparison.
"In the case of a mass disaster, the public will never know that this system was used, Dr. Kosuge said. "What is known is that instead of waiting a month for their return of their loved ones, just wait a few days."
Michael Dabney, is a former life science communicator at the University of California at San Diego freelance writer based in Chula Vista, California, specializing in science and education.
Source: lagranepoca.com
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