Forensic Odontology in the Disaster Victim Identification Process

Authors

  • Pisha Pittayapat 1Oral Imaging Center, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 2Radiology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • Reinhilde Jacobs 1Oral Imaging Center, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  • Eddy De Valck 3Chief Forensic Odontologist DVI Belgium & Past Vice President Scientific DVI Interpol Standing Committee, Beigem, Belgium
  • Dirk Vandermeulen 4Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC), Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering – ESAT, Center for Processing Speech and Images – PSI, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  • Guy Willems 5Forensic Odontology, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Keywords:

Forensic Odontology, Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), Human Identification, Mass Casualty

Abstract

Disaster victim identification (DVI) is an intensive and demanding task involving specialists from various disciplines. The forensic dentist is one of the key persons who play an important role in DVI human identification process. In recent years, many disaster incidents have happened that challenged the DVI team with various kinds of difficulties related to disaster management and different situations in each disaster. New technologies have been developed to make the working process faster and more effective.

The aim of this review article is to bring together all disciplines and diagnostic tools related to forensic odontology that are well involved in the DVI human identification process now and in the future.

It can be concluded that lessons learned from previous disaster incidents have helped to optimize working protocols and to develop new tools that can be applied in future DVI operation. The working procedures have been improved with the great help from newly developed technologies.

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Published

2012-07-01

How to Cite

Pittayapat, P., Jacobs, R., De Valck, E., Vandermeulen, D., & Willems, G. (2012). Forensic Odontology in the Disaster Victim Identification Process. The Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology - JFOS, 30(1), 1: 12. Retrieved from https://ojs.iofos.eu/index.php/Journal/article/view/22

Issue

Vol. 30 No. 1 (2012): JFOS issue 1 2012

Section

Identification