AlQahtani Sakher, Bagić Ivana Čuković, Manica Scheila, Untoro Evi, Rosie John, Nuzzolese Emilio
Assistant Professor and Forensic Odontologist, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Full Professor in Paediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
J Forensic Dent Sci. 2018 Jan-Apr;10(1):8-17. doi: 10.4103/jfo.jfds_104_17.
The dentists' main job is to restore health and function to the oral cavity. However, dental professionals can also be involved in medico legal activities as forensic odontologists or by being Expert Witnesses (EW) to testify in professional liability cases, car accidents and work-related injuries. When called to act as an expert witness by the Court, the appointed dentist has to combine both biological and technical knowledge with equivalent medico-legal and forensic knowledge. Spontaneous involvement in medico-legal matters without an adequate training and experience can lead to mistakes with irreversible consequences. As an expert witness, the dentist has precise responsibility with civil and/or penal consequences, depending on the national judicial system. Dental Expert Witness, working either privately or appointed by the Court, has defined responsibilities and is subjected to civil or criminal proceedings (depending on the judicial system) if found wanting. Keeping in mind that there are significant differences regarding the requirements of becoming eligible to be a Dental Expert Witness in different legal systems. In this work the authors investigated the Judicial Systems regarding the appointment of Dental Expert Witnesses in Brazil, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom (Table 1), in order to marshal knowledge towards harmonization and the attainment of best practice. This premise acknowledges the fact that forensic odontology must encompass the necessity for robust systems of audit and accreditation for it to be accepted as an "evidence based" forensic discipline. Further steps to ensure quality assurance in legal dentistry and forensic odontology training should be considered to prevent the spontaneous involvement of inappropriately trained dentists to become involved in making decisions that are beyond their competence and expertise.
牙医的主要工作是恢复口腔的健康和功能。然而，牙科专业人员也可以作为法医牙科学专家或作为专家证人参与法医法律活动，在专业责任案件、车祸和工伤案件中出庭作证。当被法院传唤作为专家证人时，指定的牙医必须将生物学和技术知识与同等的法医法律和法医学知识相结合。在没有充分培训和经验的情况下自发参与法医法律事务可能会导致不可逆转的错误后果。作为专家证人，根据国家司法系统的不同，牙医要承担具有民事和/或刑事后果的精确责任。牙科专家证人，无论是私下工作还是由法院指定，都有明确的责任，如果被认定有欠缺，将面临民事或刑事诉讼（取决于司法系统）。要记住，在不同的法律体系中，成为合格的牙科专家证人的要求存在显著差异。在这项工作中，作者调查了巴西、克罗地亚、印度尼西亚、意大利、沙特阿拉伯和英国关于指定牙科专家证人的司法系统（表1），以便整理知识，促进协调统一并实现最佳实践。这一前提承认这样一个事实，即法医牙科学必须包含强大的审计和认证系统的必要性，以便被接受为一门“基于证据”的法医学科。应该考虑采取进一步措施确保法律牙科和法医牙科学培训的质量保证，以防止未经适当培训的牙医自发参与做出超出其能力和专业知识范围的决策。
