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Proposal for internet-based Digital Dental Chart for personal dental identification in forensics.

Hanaoka Y, Ueno A, Tsuzuki T, Kajiwara M, Minaguchi K, Sato Y

Department of Forensic Odontology, Tokyo Dental College, 1-2-2 Masago, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba-ken 261-8502, Japan. yhanaoka@tdc.ac.jp

A dental chart is very useful as a standard source of evidence in the personal identification of bodies. However, the kind of dental chart available will often vary as a number of types of odontogram have been developed where the visual representation of dental conditions has relied on hand-drawn representation. We propose the Digital Dental Chart (DDC) as a new style of dental chart, especially for open investigations aimed at establishing the identity of unknown bodies. Each DDC is constructed using actual oral digital images and dental data, and is easy to upload onto an Internet website. The DDC is a more useful forensic resource than the standard types of dental chart in current use as it has several advantages, among which are its ability to carry a large volume of information and reproduce dental conditions clearly and in detail on a cost-effective basis.

Published 16 April 2007 in Forensic Sci Int, 168(1): 57-60.
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