Developmental dental anomalies and their potential role in establishing identity in post-mortem cases: a review

Abstract

Teeth may provide useful forensic evidence owing to features like uniqueness, stability and comparability. Moreover, the human dentition is heterodont, i.e. all the teeth have different morphology – incisors, canines, premolars and molars. There are sometimes deviations from normal morphology, such as the presence of extra teeth, variation in their shape and size eg the presence of an extra cusp, fractured crown/root, Carabelli’s cusp, peg laterals, transpositions, fusion, etc. These differences can help forensic personnel identify bodies, especially where other methods of identification like facial features, fingerprints or DNA typing cannot yield satisfactory results as in cases of badly decomposed bodies, burnt remains, mass disasters, etc. Identification from dentition is based on the direct comparison of post-mortem dental profiles with ante-mortem dental records of the deceased. This article aims to review these developmental and morphological dental traits and their role in post-mortem identification.