Using Teeth To Identify Victims
When it comes to identifying victims in a mass disaster like the Concorde jet crash, "the name of the game is organization," says forensic dental expert Richard Weems, D.M.D. The process usually involves three dental teams: an anti-mortem group, which works on trying to secure anti-mortem (or pre-death) dental records of suspected victims; a post-mortem group, which works on making post-mortem records and x-rays from teeth found at the scene of the accident; and a comparison team, which tries to match the two sets of records. Weems says sometimes, if a filling or other man-made dental apparatus is large enough or has enough of an unusual shape, a victim can be identified with just one tooth.
Contact Tracy Bischoff, Media Relations, 205 934-8935 or [email protected].
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