The Value of Dental Records in Victim Identification

New Scientist has Dental records beat DNA in tsunami IDs.

WHEN the devastating tsunami struck the Indian Ocean in December 2004, it was not DNA that identified most of the victims but traditional forensic methods such as comparing dental records. In Thailand, for example, DNA techniques put names to less than 1 per cent of the victims.

The scale of the disaster made the detection effort particularly difficult. Teams were dealing with thousands of bodies in a hot, wet climate, where roads and other infrastructure had been destroyed and lab facilities were virtually non-existent. In other recent disasters, such as 9/11 and the massacres in the former Yugoslavia, DNA identification proved to be the most useful tool. But in Thailand neither the time nor the facilities were available.

In Thailand some 75 per cent of bodies were identified using dental records, 10 per cent by fingerprints and just 0.5 per cent using DNA profiling. For the remainder a combination of techniques was used.

One advantage teeth have over DNA is that they can be easily stored to be compared with dental records later. Without refrigeration, DNA samples would have quickly degraded. Forensic odontologists were still working in Phuket months after the disaster. By February, they had identified more than 400 people with dental records. By April more than 1200 had been identified, and by July the number had reached 1700. The number now identified is 2200, and 3300 bodies are unidentified.

For the Tsunami victims it seems the “old fashioned way” of forensic odontology worked the best. DNA, of course continues to have value but climatic conditions continue the role of comparing teeth and skulls.

H/T MedGadget

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