European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Forensic odontology is an evolving science with a greater scope of development. It has established as an indispensable science in medico‑legal matters and in the identification of the dead person. Identification of human remains is essential for various reasons including legal, criminal, humanitarian and social grounds. The dental tissues are often preserved even if the deceased person is skeletonized, decomposed, burnt, or dismembered. Various methods have been developed to determine age, sex, and ethnicity of the person, using dental tissues.  This article provides an overview of the conventional forensic methods and also provides an insight into the recent concepts used in this field.

Forensic odontology is a speciality in dentistry which occupies a primary niche within the total spectrum of methods applied to medico legal identifications. Forensic odontology deals with human identifications based on dental records, bite marks, lip prints, tooth prints and palatal rugae patterns. This article primarily aims at making general practitioners aware about the importance of keeping various types of dental records and its implication in forensic odontology.