Individualisation of dental tissue--an aid for odontological identification?

The introduction of new methods in forensic diagnostics, especially serological techniques, including the use of individual markers for identification is becoming increasingly important. The DNA techniques are particularly promising and dental tissue, especially dental pulp, is a good source of DNA because it is well protected against autolysis. Gc-subtyping and application of DNA techniques for identification were reported in 1992 and show the efficacy of PCR systems for the individualisation of dental tissues. In cases of optimal conditions-room temperature and dry air-the analysis was successful after 6 or 12 months and the results could be used for identification. Under the influence of high temperature autolysis occurs and the pulp degrades making DNA typing almost impossible. The experiments show that the system HLA-DQ alpha is more reliable than the system MCT 118 and the results confirm that these techniques can be used for identification of unknown persons in some cases. The methods are only usable if comparative material belonging to the subject, such as hair, is available.