ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 3

Long-Term Validation Study of Bitewing Dental Radiographs for Forensic Identification
MacLean, DF
Professor and Chairman; and Assistant Professor, Division of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario

Kogon, SL
Professor and Chairman; and Assistant Professor, Division of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario

(Received 5 June 1995; accepted 24 July 1995)

Abstract

The validity of dental bitewing radiographs for forensic identification, with time lapses between the antemortem and postmortem film of up to 30 years, was tested. The ability to match radiographs from the same subject was expressed using sensitivity and specificity statistics. Although the overall accuracy of the observers was extremely high, it was obvious that radiographs from the same individual, when separated by time intervals greater that 20 years, had significantly reduced accuracy.

Keywords:
forensic science, forensic, odontology, forensic dentistry, bitewing radiography, long-term validation, human identification

Paper ID: JFS15418J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS15418J
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