The gander disaster: dental identification in a military tragedy.
The authors record the contributions of dentistry to the identification of victims of one of the most significant disasters in aviation and U.S. military history--the December 1985 crash of a DC-8 charter airliner near Gander, Newfoundland (now known as Newfoundland and Labrador), Canada, which killed 248 Army personnel and 8 crewmembers. Most of the dental records of the military victims were destroyed in the crash, and, as a result, this loss hampered dental identification. Nevertheless, dental identification was the primary means of identification for many because a very high percentage of the bodies were severely burned and fragmented. Many phases of the U.S. identification efforts have been reported, but the dental-investigation aspects have been mentioned only in passing. Therefore, this article documents the dental team's organization, methodology, and a variety of remarkable problems that the team encountered.
Brannon
Robert B
RB
Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Department, Louisiana State University School of Dentistry, New Orleans, LA 70119, USA.
Morlang
William M
WM
Smith
Brion C
BC
D000060:Accidents, Aviation; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D002056:Burns; D003792:Dental Records; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D018732:Forensic Anthropology / Q000379:methods; D005553:Forensic Dentistry / Q000379:methods*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D009523:Newfoundland and Labrador; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000379:methods; D012984:Software