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Forensic Dental Identification: Practice in Indian Context Compared to Western Countries

Authors :
Sudheer B Balla
Source :
Journal of Forensic Science and Medicine, Vol 2, Iss 1, Pp 44-47 (2016)
Publication Year :
2016
Publisher :
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2016.

Abstract

Today, in most of the countries forensic dental identification is considered as one of the most accurate and reliable method of identification of human remains. This application of forensic dentistry has proven successful in both single identification cases as well as in multiple fatality incidents such as world trade center disaster in 2001, the Asian tsunami in December 2004 etc. Comparative dental identification is one of the primary means of identification along with DNA and fingerprint analysis and also the most common method of identification of human remains. Identification of human remains from dental records is mandated by the law in some countries. India is one of the most disaster-prone countries of the world. It has had some of the world's most severe droughts, famines, earthquakes, road accidents, and rail accidents. In this paper, few multiple fatality incidents that took place over the last decade in India are reported. A brief analysis of all the reported cases and difficulties encountered during identification were discussed. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the issues involved in body identifications following disasters in India. The author also discussed to what extent Indian government is successful in utilizing the expertise of a forensic dentist in body identifications and also compared the present practice of forensic dental identification in India to Western countries. The goal is to cite situations and to bring issues into better focus, and hence that the identification procedures can be refined and changes can be made as necessary.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
23495014
Volume :
2
Issue :
1
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Forensic Science and Medicine
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....f1f8367438faaaf55ecdf47733366785