What Forensic Dentistry Encompasses

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There are people in this world that do not fully comprehend the concept of what forensic dentistry is and what it encompasses. "Forensic Odontology or forensic dentistry is a branch of forensic science that deals with the handling, examination, and presentation of dental evidence in court." Forensic Odontology: A Closer Look | Forensic Science. (N.d.). Retrieved from http://www.forensicscience.org/resources/forensic-odontology-a-closer-look/. Forensic dentistry deals with the identification of individuals from human remains. They can also determine a person's age, gender, race, and even occupation. Identification of individuals is done through comparing ante mortem records with post mortem records of the individual. Also, dental records are collected from the individual's suspected dentist once the forensic dentist has an idea of who the person could be.
Police agencies and morticians occasionally have trouble identifying deceased victims over time, which sometimes leads to unsolved murder cases, unidentified human remains from the war, or cases involving abuse to individuals. Predominately, human remains can be very hard to identify if they body has been badly mutilated, burnt, dismembered, or severely decomposed. When this is the case, a forensic dentist is called in to help assist identifying the human remains by looking at a person’s teeth and surrounding structures. Age estimation is also a known key factor for forensic dentistry, whether involving the primary dentition for children, mixed dentition for teenagers, or the permanent dentition for adults. The forensic dentist will examine the corpse of an unknown individual and examine the dentition presented, because the dentition will offer clues to which the person may be. ...

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... assaulted by Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy bit Lisa Levy which left teeth marks on her left buttock region and breast. This would turn out to be one of the most crucial pieces of evidence in the investigation of the murder. Ted Bundy was apprehended in February of 1978 while driving his car. The cops thought that they were just pulling over a reckless driver, but it turned out to be one the biggest catches finding Ted Bundy in the car. Once they took him into custody, he ultimately went to trial for the murders that he committed in the Florida State, Chi Omega sorority house. While, on trial, the bite marks found on the body of Lisa Levy were one of the only pieces of physical evidence that they had at their disposal during the trial. Forensic dentist took a plaster cast of Bundy's teeth, and they then compared them to the bite marks that were found on the breast and buttock

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