Selvajothi Packiaraj, Lavanya Chandra, Joshua Elizabeth, Rao Umadevi K, Ranganathan Kannan
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Ragas Dental College, Uthandi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
N Am J Med Sci. 2014 Nov;6(11):553-7. doi: 10.4103/1947-2714.145459.
The forensic discipline of law is a multidisciplinary team comprising of specialists in forensic medicine, forensic odontology, security and law.
The study was to find the awareness level of scope and utility of forensic odontology among lawyers in Chennai, South India.
A cross-sectional study using a self administered structured questionnaire was conducted in 200 lawyers between August and September of 2013. The data was analyzed depending on age, gender, type and years of practice.
Lawyers above 40 years of experience were more aware of palatal rugae analysis (P = 0.02), and those with more than 20 years were aware of lip print (P = 0.001) and bite mark analysis (P = 0.001). Males were more aware of forensic odontology with respect to criminal identification (P = 0.001). The knowledge of bite mark analysis was higher among male lawyers (P = 0.001), civil and criminal practicing lawyers (P = 0.004). All participants were aware that loss or fracture of tooth constitutes a grievous injury under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 320 clause 7(5).
This study highlighted the knowledge of forensic odontology among legal professionals and also identified the areas in which they need further appraisal.
法医法学是一个多学科团队，由法医学、法医牙科学、安全和法律方面的专家组成。
本研究旨在了解印度南部金奈地区律师对法医牙科学范围和效用的认知水平。
2013年8月至9月，对200名律师进行了一项使用自填式结构化问卷的横断面研究。根据年龄、性别、执业类型和年限对数据进行分析。
有40年以上执业经验的律师对腭皱襞分析的了解更多（P = 0.02），有20年以上执业经验的律师对唇纹（P = 0.001）和咬痕分析（P = 0.001）有所了解。男性在刑事鉴定方面对法医牙科学的了解更多（P = 0.001）。男性律师对咬痕分析的知识掌握程度更高（P = 0.001），民事和刑事执业律师也是如此（P = 0.004）。所有参与者都知道牙齿脱落或折断在《印度刑法典》（IPC）第320条第7款第5项中构成重伤。
本研究突出了法律专业人员对法医牙科学的了解，并确定了他们需要进一步评估的领域。
