The diversity of dental patterns in the orthopantomography and its significance in human identification.
The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of orthopantomography for human identification. Three hundred orthopantomograms were randomly selected from those stored at Dental Hospital of Yonsei University in Seoul. Dental patterns observed in the orthopantomograms were converted into eight codes and their diversity was calculated. The diversity of dental patterns in the orthopantomogram data was 99.92% for full dentition and the diversity of mandible (99.28%) was slightly higher value than that of maxilla (98.22%). In the case of molars and premolars in both jaws, the diversity values ranged from 92.13% to 96.04%. It was founded that orthopantomography is a valuable means of personal identification not only based on full dentition but also when only the posterior teeth are available. The present study indicates that orthopantomography is excellent means of forensic identification.
Lee
Sang-Seob
SS
Department of Oral Diagnosis and Oral Medicine, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
Choi
Jong-Hoon
JH
Yoon
Chang-Lyuk
CL
Kim
Chong-Youl
CY
Shin
Kyoung-Jin
KJ
D001641:Bicuspid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003817:Dentition; D005553:Forensic Dentistry; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008437:Maxilla / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008963:Molar / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic