How to Work as a Forensic Dentist
Posted on: 20 February 2015
The field of dentistry has evolved over the years into an overwhelmingly wide field. One of the newer areas in dentistry is forensic dentistry. This branch involves use of forensic knowledge to identify individuals or even help to solve crime by analyzing dental evidence and bite marks. A forensic dentist's input is crucial when it comes to criminology, where criminals are careful not to leave fingerprints or get caught in surveillance cameras, but engage in some struggle that involves bites. A forensic dentist also comes in handy during mass disasters that completely destroy the human body—such as fires in public places or plane crashes. If you aspire to be a forensic dentist, the following guidelines elaborate on the different ways that one can work in that field.
Crime investigation
Decades ago, the idea that a dentist could be the key to solving a major crime would have been laughed off by detectives and federal agencies. Today, however, almost every crime investigation department has a dentist in their forensic unit. Forensic dentists are especially important when it comes to violent crimes such as murder, rape or assault that involve a struggle between or among the involved parties. Biting an assailant or a victim is human instinct when trying to overpower them. As a forensic dentist, you will therefore be involved in analyzing bite marks and comparing their patterns including teeth size, deformities and textures. Bite marks go two ways; they can either be on a suspect's body, and you seek to prove that the bite marks belong to a particular victim; or they can be on a victim's body, and you have to prove that they belong to a particular suspect.
Pathology
As a forensic doctor, you may also choose to work in pathology. Your input will be required majorly In case of mass hazards such as plane crashes where victims' bodies are destroyed beyond recognition. This means that all other forms of identification such as facial identification and fingerprints have been compromised. Dental structures such as teeth are very strong and difficult to destroy completely. A forensic dentist in pathology is engaged in matching bodies to their families by comparing and confirming similarity in dental forms. Apart from mass hazards, a forensic doctor in pathology also assists in identifying human remnants that have been stumbled upon for example in water or in forests.
As evidenced in the above guidelines, forensic dentistry is both a crucial and exciting field of the wider medicine practice. Forensic dentists' work description keeps on expanding and provides for an unlimited number of possibilities in the general forensic field. For more information, contact Kooringal Dental Surgery.
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