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Paulo Roberto da Silva, Márcia Cristina Lopes, Ismar Eduardo Martins-Filho, Maria Gabriela HayeBiazevic, Edgard Michel-Crosato
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether the tooth crown sexual dimorphism pattern reported in previous small studies can be generalized for a broader range of populations.
Literature review: A systematic literature review was performed by two independent examiners. The following databases were searched from October 2015 to July 2016: PubMed, Scopus, Lilacs, ScienceDirect, Medline, and Cochrane Reviews. No language restrictions were applied to the search.
Selection criteria: The inclusion criteria comprised original studies investigating mesiodistal permanent teeth that reported the sample population and standard deviation. All right-sided teeth, except the third molars, were measured and separated by sex in the included studies. Thirty-one studies were included in the quantitative data synthesis and meta-analysis. Studies of non-human teeth, skeletal remains, or an overly specific study population were excluded.
Main results: Thirty-one trials, involving 6481 participants, provided data for the meta-analysis of teeth. Sexual dimorphism in mesiodistal crowns was found in all teeth across a range of populations, principally in lower canines (5.73%) and maxillary canines (4.72%), followed by the lower second molars (3.54%) and upper second molars(3.20%), and finally in the lower first molars(3.14%) and upper first molars(2.64%).
Conclusions: A small degree of sexual dimorphism exists in all human teeth. Second molars and canines show the greatest sexual dimorphism. Additionally, smaller racial differences are present in mesiodistal crowns among groups living in different geographic areas; however, it is not possible to establish a single value applicable for all populations.
(J Forensic Odontostomatol 2019;37;1:2-19)
Physical violence against children and adolescents in Recife: a 5-year retrospective study
Humberto Gomes Vidal, Inês Morais Caldas, Arnaldo de França Caldas Jr, Luiz Gutenberg Toledo de Miranda Coelho Júnior , Eliane Helena Alvim de Souza, Maria Lurdes Pereira3
The aim of the present study was to analyze the prevalence results of physical violence against children and adolescents in a 5-year period in Recife, Brazil. Inter-personal violence is one of the most recognizable forms of child aggression and has become as an imperative public health issue. All violence related forensic reports performed between 2009 and 2013 in the clinical services of the Institute of Legal Medicine Antônio Percivo Cunha were analyzed. Victims were classified according to sex, age, relationship with perpetrator, injuries and year of occurrence. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS (version 22.0). Continuous variables were described and when appropriate, frequencies were displayed and compared. The association between variables was evaluated using chi-square and Fisher’s exact test. The margin of error for the statistical tests was 5.0%. A total of 9783 occurrences were evaluated, involving mainly male subjects (n=5447, 55.7%). Victims’ mean age was 13.9 years, the most common perpetrators were victims’ acquaintances (n=2538, 25.9%). Facial injuries were the most frequent affecting a little over a fifth of the total sample (n=3673, 20.1%). These findings support the important role dentists can play in identifying and reporting physical violence against children and adolescents.
(J Forensic Odontostomatol 2019;37;1:20-25)
The tongue protrusion in post-mortem fire
Ilenia Bianchi, Martina Focardi, Valentina Bugelli, Barbara Gualco, Francesco Pradella, Vilma Pinchi
Different mechanims are hypothized in literature to explain the toungue protrusion both for vital and non-vital burning. This paper retrospectively evaluates some cases of carbonized corpses examined at the Forensic Pathology service of the University of Florence. The tongue protrusion shows a high occurrence both in vital (100%) and non-vital fires (66%). The involvement of a forensic odontologist in the cadaver examination result to be limited to one third of the cases. In two non-vital cases the tongue was described as protruded and clenched between the dental arches. The rigor of the genioglossus induced by the heat could explain the phenomenon. Further research on fire fatalities is required to analyze the tongue bleeding as a possible parameter to discriminate the vital by the non-vital tongue protrusion. Moreover, the mechanism at the origin of vital and non-vital tongue protrusion, the different position of the tongue (protruded from an open mouth, protruded and clenched between the dental arches, etc.) in different death circumstances, should be furtherly investigated with a meaningful collaboration between forensic pathologists and odontologists for a complete registration and interpretation of all the mouth originated evidence.
(J Forensic Odontostomatol 2019;37;1:26-31)
Ipsita Mohanty, Swagatika Panda, Radha Prasanna Dalai, Neeta Mohanty
This study is aimed at finding the predictive accuracy of Demirjian’s (D), modified Demirjian’s (MD) and India specific age estimation methods (AA) Indian specific age estimation methods in 522 healthy children of Odisha population among 3-18 years. Correlations between chronological age (CA) and derived age (DA) by above mentioned methods were evaluated by Wilcoxon signed rank test and Pearson’s correlation analysis. Analysis of mean absolute error concluded that D and MD predicted the CA with fair accuracy, whereas, AA had lower accuracy in Odisha children. Odisha specific polynomial regression formula, derived in this study is showing a strong correlation with CA (r=0.84). Comparison of mean absolute error of D, MD, AA and Odisha specific method indicated a better predictive accuracy of Odisha specific method.
(J Forensic Odontostomatol 2019;37;1:32-39)
Sapna Hegde, Akash Patodia, Kanksha Shah, Uma Dixit
Background: Demirjian’s method of age estimation has been reported to overestimate age and Willems’ method to give consistently more accurate results. Not enough, however, is known about the applicability of Chaillet’s standards. Aim: The present study aimed to compare the accuracy of Demirjian’s, Willems’ and Chaillet’s standards in age estimation of 5 to 15 year-old Indian children. Design: In this cross-sectional observational study, three methods were compared for accuracy in estimating the age of 1200 Indian children aged 5-15 years. Results: Demirjian’s method overestimated age by +0.24 ± 0.80 years, +0.11 ± 0.81years and +0.19 ± 0.80 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. With Willems’ method, overestimations of +0.09 ± 0.80 years, +0.08 ± 0.80 years and +0.09 ± 0.80 years were obtained in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Chaillet’s method underestimated age by -0.12 ± 0.69 years, -0.45 ± 0.88 years and -0.25 ± 0.83 years in boys, girls and the total sample, respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed between dental and chronological ages with all methods (p < 0.001). Significant sex-based differences were observed only with Demirjian’s and Chaillet’s methods (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Willems’ method was the most accurate in age estimation, followed by Demirjian’s and Chaillet’s methods. While Demirjian’s method was more accurate than Chaillet’s in females, Chaillet’s method better predicted the age of males.
(J Forensic Odontostomatol 2019;37;1:40-53)
New insights into odontological exploration of drowning using rat model – A pilot study.
Chokkalingam Thamarai Selvan, Andrey V. Malkovskiy, Rajagopalan Vijayaraghavan, Govindarajulu Rajesh Babu, Sivanesan Senthilkumar
Dental forensics for the resolution of unnatural death remains an underdeveloped field. Accordingly, an experimental study was conducted with six to seven months old Wistar rats that were drowned in order to identify key postmortem features and pattern of dental decomposition. The visual, structural and elemental changes were assessed periodically. Based on mode of death, they were designated as SB (euthanized and soil buried), FWD (fresh water drowned) and SWD (sea water drowned). Postmortem features as well as the structural and elemental patterns of decomposition of teeth were analyzed with Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDAX) periodically for two months. The periodic observation of elemental changes in the teeth of SB, FWD and SWD rats allowed us to derive an equation using linear regression analysis to relate the degree of dental decomposition with the time since death. The difference in pattern of surface deterioration was also observed. The present findings could provide a better knowledge in resolving unnatural deaths and supporting evidence for legal prosecution.
(J Forensic Odontostomatol 2019;37;1:51-62)
The utilization of small amounts of residual endodontic material for dental identification
John William Berketa, Catherine Sims, Rabiah Al Adawiyah Binti Rahmat
Dental information is one of the three scientific methods of identifying a deceased person. However, when an investigator is faced with dental ante-mortem information that indicates the deceased has had all his teeth extracted, it may be assumed that the dental information will not be useful, especially if no retained roots are visible in the post-mortem triage. The following case report highlights that careful examination including radiography, may reveal specific detailed information which was useful for identification to be established. Two small radiopaque objects were located in the apical area where the upper left canine root apex would have been. The radiopacities size, location, positioning to both each other and to the left maxillary sinus corresponded to ante-mortem radiographs. This case reveals an unusual use of extruded root canal material being of evidential value even though the tooth was extracted.