Forensic Dental Biometrics

Biometrics technology aims at utilizing major and distinctive characteristics such as behavioral or biological, for the sake of positively indentifying people. With the help of a combination of hardware and specific identifying sets of rules, a basic human attribute, automated biometric recognition mimics to distinguish and categorize other people as individual and unique. But the challenges surrounding biometrics are great as well.

Forensic odontologists are experienced medical professionals, who are trained dentist that help identify unknown remains through dental records. Forensic odontology offers the widest variety of working conditions out of all of the other dental specialties. Forensic odontologists have been an essential aspect in helping identify skeletal remains. Sometimes all that is left behind for evidence is the teeth of the subject. With only this evidence to work with, the odontologist is called upon to process the remains. Since teeth are made of enamel, the hardest substance the body produces, and can survive severe conditions and still be viable for analysis, they become a significant piece of evidence used in the identification of unknown subjects. .Even though teeth are just another part of the skull, the amount of info in one tooth makes it a subject unto itself .

Comparison of latent fingerprints found at the crime scene with exemplar prints, comparison of bite marks on a victim, DNA evidence, hair and fibre matching are some of the example of pattern comparison in forensic science (Coyle, Field & Wenderoth, 2009). Comparison of pattern evidence in forensic science is to determine whether the same kind of the properties of forensic traces may have come from a common (or related source) (Found & Edmond, 2012). There are varieties of techniques in forensic pattern evidence that make associations between physical traces. The association of one or more traces might be helpful in the investigation of a crime that usually can support an inference (Cole, Berthental & Seelagy, 2016).

After that they “analyze bones to determine the victim's biological profile” as it is said in “What is Forensic Anthropology” by R.U. Steinberg.

Biometrics is a method of identifying an individual based on characteristics that they possess, typically physiological features such as a fingerprint, hand, iris, retina, face, voice, and even DNA. Some methods of biometrics security even use multiple physiological features or multimodal biometrics to provide superior security than a single form of biometrics can provide. Why are biometrics important in the field of information security? Biometrics provide a remarkable amount of security for information because biometrics are unique to each person, and thus cannot be lost, copied, or shared with another individual. This security allows for biometrics to provide a means to reliability authenticate personnel. The importance of biometrics can be further divided into the history of biometrics and why it was devised, past implementations of biometrics, current implementations of biometrics, and future implementations of biometrics.

Technology is always improving, and new software is always being developed. One of these new technologies that have been developed is biometrics. Biometrics is the process by which a person's unique physical and other traits are detected and recorded by an electronic device or system as means of confirming identity (Dictionary.com, 2013). In recent years, the FBI has employed new biometrics technology.

Nigel Hunt discusses the future of crime scene investigations within Australia in his article ‘The DNA

In other words, dental records are compared to teeth found to get a positive identification made. Dental records can find the age and many other biological features. In the text it states,”After that comes establishing a positive identification. The most common is dental records because almost all of us have been to a dentist and have had X-rays of our mouths.” This shows in cases where teeth are found the most common way forensic scientists use them is to establish an identity and biological profile.With this in mind, the text also states,”....because almost all of have been to a dentist and have X-rays of our mouths. But also DNA is important.” This shows that teeth help victim identification through data analysis. Lastly, anthropologist work with odontologist to help identify a

Statistics have proven that dentists have one of the highest suicide rates out of all of the other occupations in America. Dentists' jobs can be very repetitive. For the most part, they perform the same procedures in the same environment every day. Their patients can often be boring or hard to deal with, and worst of all they will deal with patients looking to sue for dental malpractice. If bad enough, this can put them out of business. As many people know, there are dental specialties such as; orthodontists, prosthodontists, pedodonists, periodontists, and oral and maxillofacial surgeons. The most unrecognized dental specialty is forensic odontology. Forensic odontologists are dentists that work in the field of forensic science.

When individuals are discovered disfigured or in a highly decomposed state without fingerprints. This is making identification more complex and time-consuming [46].

The final main biometric technology used is fingerprint recognition. This is definitely the most widely used biometric technology. This type of biometric has been used for many, many years. Because of this, fingerprint recognition has been known as the most primary and accurate identification method used to identify a person. The modern fingerprint recognition is all done electronically. There are two main ways of analyzing fingerprints electronically. The first plots points on the ridges of a person’s fingers that enable the computer to compare to different fingerprints. The second method uses patterns of a fingerprint

“Fingerprint recognition is one of the divorce inference using the impressions made by the minute ridge formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two people have exactly the same arrangement of the ridge patterns, and the remaining patterns of any one individual unchanged. Fingerprints infallible provide a means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics may change, but not fingerprints”. (1)

Every time somebody touches something, they leave behind a unique signature that forever links them to that object. This link is their fingerprints, which are unique to every person, for no two people have the same set, not even family members or identical twins. Palms and toes also leave prints behind, but these are far less commonly found during crime scene investigations. Therefore, fingerprints provide an identification process that is applicable to background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and most importantly, crime scene investigations. Fingerprints are so differentiated because they are made up of distinct patterns of ridges and furrows on the fingers. The ridges are the “raised” portions of the prints, and the furrows are the “recessed” portions. This perceived uniqueness has led some people to falsely accept fingerprint analysis as absolute scientific fact. Although overall fingerprints are reliable, there are definitely situations where their accuracy can come into question.

Biometrics are automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physical or behavioral characteristic (2001). Essentially, biometric security technologies are used to accurately identify individuals on a unique trait. The most common biometric security techniques used currently are: signature

The technology is many years away from development. Blood pulses on a finger can be measured by new biometric systems. This technology is currently under development. Nail bed identification is based on identifying distinct spatial arrangement beneath the fingernail. Gait recognition is another technology which is under development. This recognizes individuals by their distinctive walk and captures a sequence of images to derive and analyze motion characteristics. The technology is currently under development and its complete potential and limitations can be fully assessed. Many biometric identification systems are being developed and tested (Woodward, 2005).