Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology最新文献

There has been an increase in the need for alternate methods of dental age assessment, especially for the forensic age diagnosis of the 18th year of life. This is due to the completion of the third molar development before 18 years or the agenesis or therapeutic extractions of the third molars. The present study aimed to verify whether the secondary dentin formation in lower premolars can be used to determine the completion of the 18th year of life in a sample of South Indian adolescents and young adults. For this purpose, 800 orthopantomograms of 400 male and 400 female South Indian subjects aged 14- 22 were evaluated. The characteristics of the secondary dentin formation were determined in all mandibular premolars using the stage classification according to Olze et al (Int J Legal Med 126(4):615-21). The results showed that when stage 3 of secondary dentin formation was reached in the first premolars, the probability of the subject completing the 18th year of life was very high. However, only a few individuals in the studied population were at stage 3. Therefore, proceeding cautiously with this degenerative change in lower premolars is advised due to the higher inter-examiner differences. It is also recommended to use this method in conjunction with other age estimation methods. Further research should investigate other degenerative characteristics in the studied population.

Historically, the law, dental and forensic literature has included numerous articles concerning abused children. The orofacial structures are injured frequently in the maltreated child. Injuries of the neck, head, face, and oral cavity represent the most affected areas of the victim's body that routinely sustain physical trauma in child maltreatment cases. This literature review aimed to report the state of art of child abuse from the point of view of the dentist with focus on studies in dental aspects of child abuse and neglect of the last ten years. Considering the time slot, 20 papers were included with the following inclusion criteria: papers published in English, all keywords included in the title, articles available on PubMed. Many of the injuries are within the scope of dentistry or easily observed by the dental professional during routine dental treatment, and it is essential that the dentist recognizes them. Concerning neglect, it is appropriate to make a distinction between deliberate parental behavior that has the consequence of unavoidable and voluntary neglect towards their children and those conditions of involuntary carelessness determined by socio-economic and cultural factors such as family isolation, lack of finances, parental ignorance, or lack of perceived value of oral health. Therefore, it is relevant that the dentist pays attention to the cases to report and those that only need help.

This review article aims to highlight the current possibilities for applying Artificial Intelligence in modern forensic medicine and forensic dentistry and present the advantages and disadvantages of its use. For this purpose, the relevant academic literature was searched using PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. The application of Artificial Intelligence in forensic medicine and forensic dentistry is still in its early stages. However, the possibilities are great, and the future will show what is applicable in daily practice. Artificial Intelligence will improve the accuracy and efficiency of work in forensic medicine and forensic dentistry; it can automate some tasks; and enhance the quality of evidence. Disadvantages of the application of Artificial Intelligence may be related to discrimination, transparency, accountability, privacy, security, ethics and others. Artificial Intelligence systems should be used as a support tool, not as a replacement for forensic experts.

Background: Dental professionals could play a significant role in identifying, documenting and reporting child maltreatment to appropriate authorities as children are exposed to various maltreatments that can present in the head and neck region.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to assess the level of knowledge, awareness and attitude among dental professionals regarding child maltreatment and to identify the barriers that prevent reporting suspected maltreatment.

Methodology: The present cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted on dental professionals practising in India by emailing a self-structured questionnaire to assess knowledge, awareness and attitude regarding child maltreatment.

Results: 422 dental professionals participated in the survey of which 270 were females. A significant difference was observed in mean knowledge (p=.015), awareness (p=.014) score of the participants with regard to place of work and mean knowledge score (p=.024) of the participants with regard to educational qualification. 300 participants reported that lack of adequate knowledge and awareness about the role of dental professionals regarding child maltreatment is one of the major barriers that prevent reporting child maltreatment.

Conclusion: Findings of the study showed that 43.8% of participants had good knowledge and 44.8% were fairly aware regarding child maltreatment. 86.7% of participants showed a very good attitude towards learning more about the role of dental professionals in the management of child maltreatment.

Sex determination or sex estimation from a single or fragment of bone is always difficult in the absence of other bones from the same individual. The current study was an attempt to estimate the sex of an individual from the posterior ramus of mandible or the mandibular ramus flexure. A retrospective study was conducted using orthopantomographs (OPGs) of 200 males and 200 females between the age group of 20 - 70 years. Each radiographic image was examined for the presence of a flexure or notching on the posterior border of the ramus in relation to occlusal plane as the method followed by Loth & Henneberg 1996.The study resulted in samples that were correctly classified as females 59.5% and males 57.5 %. The overall correct sex estimation was achieved in 58.5% of the cases. The predictive accuracy or assessment was higher for females compared to males. Consequently, the posterior ramus of mandible or mandibular ramus flexure can be considered as supplementary rather than a definitive means of sex determination. Hence, it is preferable to include as many parameters as possible to attain optimal accuracy.

Aim: To evaluate and compare the performance of six dental age estimation methods (Moorrees, Fanning and Hunt, Demirjian, Gleiser and Hunt, Nolla, Chaillet et al., and Nicodemo et al.) on a sample of Saudi children.

Method: This cross-sectional study was based on the evaluation of a sample of 400 archived digital panoramic radiographs of healthy Saudi children (200 each from boys and girls) aged 6 to 15.99 years. Panoramic radiographs acquired during 2018-2021 were obtained from the information technology department of the dental clinics at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dental age was evaluated using the six dental age estimation methods on the developing permanent dentition in both jaws of the left side. The accuracy of each method was assessed in relation to chronological age, and a comparison between these methods was made.

Result: For all the tested methods, significant differences were found between chronological and dental age (P<0.001). The mean difference between dental and chronological age was (-2.19 years) for Chaillet et al. method, (0.15 years) for the Demirjian method, (-1.01 years) for the Moorrees, Fanning and Hunt method, (-1.72 years) for Nicodemo et al. method, (-1.29 years) for Nolla method, and (-1.00 years) for Gleiser and Hunt method.

Conclusion: Among the tested methods, the accuracy in Saudi subjects was the highest for Demirjian's method, followed by the Moorrees, Fanning and Hunt method. The methods proposed by Nicodemo et al., and Chaillet et al., were the least accurate.

This study examines the radiographic visibility of root pulp (RPV) in lower first, second and third molars to validate the completion of 21 years. RPV in all lower three molars of both sides was assessed using a sample of 930 orthopantomograms of individuals aged between 15 and 30. The scoring of RPV was done using the Olze et al. four-stage classification (Int J Legal Med 124(3):183-186, 2010). Cut-off values were determined for each molar using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the ROC curve (AUC). The selected cut-off values were stage 3 for the first molar, stage 2 for the second molar and stage 1 for the third molar. For lower first molar, the AUC was 0.702, and the sensitivity, specificity and posttest probability (PTP) were 60.1%, 98.8% and 98.1% in males, and 64.5%, 99.1% and 98.6% in females. For lower second molar, the AUC was 0.828, and the sensitivity, specificity and PTP were 75.5%, 97% and 96.2% in males, and 74.4%, 96.3% and 95.3% in females. For the lower third molar, the AUC was 0.906; the sensitivity was 74.1% and 64.4% in males and females, while specificity and PTP were 100% in both sexes. The accuracy of predictions for the completion of 21 years was high. However, the greater percentage of false negatives and inapplicability of this method in one-third of lower-third molars have been recommended for using this method in conjunction with other dental or skeletal methods.

Forensic odontologists are expected to deal with challenging demands which can affect their mental health while dealing with forensic activities. This study aimed to explore the psychological impacts of forensic activities on forensic odontologists and students undertaking training. Firstly, it of an integrative review (part I) on the psychological effects of forensic odontology practice. The review was performed on Scopus, Medline and Web of Science. Next, an anonymous online survey using JISC Online Surveys tool (part II) was performed to assess the inherent opinions of forensic odontologists from the the International Organization for Forensic Odonto-Stomatology (IOFOS), and Association of Forensic Odontologists for Human Rights (AFOHR), and Dentify.me. Results were quantitatively evaluated by means of descriptive statistics and qualitatively upon reflection using Microsoft Office Excel (2010). Part I, only one full-text article out of 2235 (Webb et al., 2002) was found eligible indicating a low number of eligible studies. Part II, 75 forensic odontologists and 26 students (49.9% male; 50.5% female) from over 35 countries participated. Results showed that forensic dentists are more psychologically or emotionally affected by child abuse cases and least affected by age estimation cases. Most experienced forensic odontologists reported the lowest scores of discomforts. Males were more comfortable than women in dealing with stress. 80.77% (n= 21) of the students have not experienced any behavioural changes following mortuary sessions but 19.2% (n= 5) witnessed stress. All respondents support the inclusion of a module in Psychology or stress management in training programmes in Forensic Odontology. Suggestions to maintain mental health are considered by the respondents and topics to be taught suggested by a psychologist.

Geometric morphometrics is a novel statistical shape based technique used as an additional approach to the currently used methods in forensics for the assessment of age. Various craniofacial units are used for the estimation of age using this technique. The aim of this systematic review was to assess if Geometric Morphometrics is an accurate and reliable method in craniofacial skeletal age estimation. A literature search was conducted for cross-sectional studies on geometric morphometrics in craniofacial skeletal age estimation using various search engines such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Scopus using specific MESH terms. AQUA (Anatomical Quality Assessment) tool was used for the quality assessment. A total of 4 articles were included for qualitative synthesis as they met the objectives of this review. The results of all the included studies suggested that geometric morphometrics can be used for craniofacial skeletal age estimation. The centroid size calculated using digitized images or CBCT scanned images is said to be the highest predictor of age.This systematic review summarises the merits and demerits of this technique and suggests that it is rapid and accurate method for age estimation even in instances of single skeletal remains of craniofacial units and can be performed on a digitized image or a CBCT scanned images. However, further studies are needed to derive reliable data and meta-analysis can be performed effectively.