Part 1: Heavy Rain

QUESTION 1


We have all heard of how Forensic Dentistry has helped in the identification of burnt victims and also victims with bite marks. Explain more about these and describe how is Forensic Dentistry could be useful in the identification of murder victims?

QUESTION 2 

Is a male human skull different from that of a female? If yes, how?

please view the video for the answers to the first two questions!!

Okay, we KNOW some of you guys might have dosed off during our AWESOME video, so here's a short summary for question 1 and 2 for you guys!

 Forensic Dentistry could be useful in the identification of murder victims.
 Currently, three types of personal identification circumstances use the teeth, jaws, and orofacial characteristics.

1.       Comparative Identification

2.       Reconstructive postmortem dental profiling

3.       Dental DNA profiling

Comparative dental identification involves the comparison of postmortem and antemortem dental records to determine if the body is that of the person of interest.  Dental DNA profiling focuses on the application of modern forensic DNA profiling methods to oral tissues, and is used when dental treatments or other traits from dental records are unavailable.

extra informations.

1.       So why teeth?

Teeth are the most durable organs in the body, able to survive temperatures of 1600°C and remain virtually intact long after other soft or skeletal tissues have decayed or been incinerated.

2.       Limitations of Forensic Dentistry

a.       Better dental care nowadays have caused less restorations to be performed so naturally a major tools for teeth identification has been removed, making the work more tedious.

b.      Cost and safety concerns have caused a drop in amount and frequency of routine dental radiographs. This cause fewer antemortem dental records available for post-mortem comparison.

c.       Increasing use of sealants and other composite resin restoration are not always visible on radiographs. This cause charactieristics available for dental identification to reduce.

 Comparision between male and female skull

	Male	Female
Cranium vault	Larger and rounder	Smaller and narrower
Supraorbital ridge	More prominent	Less prominent
Zygomatic arch	More prominent	Less prominent
Lower jaw	Broader and square	Less broad and rounder
Chin	Square	Rounder and slightly pointy

QUESTION 3

From the story above so far, how many victims are there? Explain.

Dr.Chew's team, also know as Forensic Heroes, have agreed that there is only one victim. Since it can be concluded that there is already one male skull belonging to that of a child, we guess that the remaining skull pieces found could be succedaneous teeth in the jaw which has yet to erupt.

Link for Ted Bundy's case;http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/forensics/bitemarks/1.html