Department of Physics, Canisius College, 2001 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14208, United States.
Forensic Sci Int. 2012 Nov 30;223(1-3):202-7. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.08.044. Epub 2012 Sep 13.
In bitemark analysis the extent of distortion of both maxillary and mandibular arches and how one affects the other has not been studied. A single dentition was used to create 49 bites on unembalmed cadavers. Landmarks were placed on digital images of the bitemarks and scanned images of the biting dentition. A sample of 297 randomly acquired dental models was used for comparison purposes. Geometric morphometric techniques were utilized to statistically describe size and shape change, as well as the correlation between the two arches. Results indicate that the predominant distortion seen was in arch width, at 7-28 times as large as measurement error in the biting dentition and roughly 50% of the variation seen in the random population of dentitions. The correlation of arch width distortion between arches was very low (∼0.03). However, the principal patterns of all shape variation did co-vary in the bitemarks produced by the maxillary and mandibular dentition, an effect indicating independence of size and shape distortion. In conclusion, bitemark analysis should be approached with caution when the principal difference between suspects is arch width.
在咬痕分析中，上颌骨和下颌骨弓的变形程度以及一个弓如何影响另一个弓尚未得到研究。使用单个牙列在未防腐的尸体上创建了 49 个咬痕。在咬痕的数字图像和咬痕牙列的扫描图像上放置了地标。随机采集了 297 个牙科模型样本用于比较目的。利用几何形态测量技术，对大小和形状变化以及两个弓之间的相关性进行了统计描述。结果表明，主要的变形发生在弓宽，在咬痕牙列中是测量误差的 7-28 倍，大约是随机牙列群体中观察到的变异的 50%。弓宽变形的相关性在弓之间非常低（约为 0.03）。然而，由上颌和下颌牙列产生的咬痕中的所有形状变化的主要模式确实是共变的，这表明大小和形状变形是独立的。总之，当嫌疑犯之间的主要区别在于弓宽时，咬痕分析应该谨慎进行。
