Forensic Odontological Parameters as Biometric Tool: A Review.

Human identification by virtue of dental identification is on the increase in the past few years and has served as a major adjunct in the identification process. The science associated with the dealing of evidences from dental, oral, and paraoral structures-Forensic Odontology, is a boon in itself. It has been seen that the role of forensic odontology has increased as most of the times teeth and other orally associated structures remain the only means of identification in the worst of scenarios where the conventional biometrics such as fingerprint, iris scan, palm print, etc., may be lost and are therefore not reliable enough to resolve the purpose of identification. There are various important aspects in forensic odontology which are associated with the study of tooth prints, i.e., ameloglyphics, radiographs, the study of palatal rugae patterns, i.e., rugoscopy, cheiloscopy, i.e., the study of lip patterns, tongue prints which can serve as an important biometric tool to aid in the human identification process. Dental biometrics helps to determine several parameters that serve in the interest of forensics such as type of specimen, population affinity, sex, age, stature, race, and various other individualization factors. So, comparative dental identifications with the help of a biometric recognition system will play a major role in identifying deceased individuals in disasters, crimes, or any other mass tragedies. Kaul B, Vaid V, Gupta S, Forensic Odontological Parameters as Biometric Tool: A Review. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2021;14(3):416-419.