Human Bite Marks In Skin: A Review

Human identification is the mainstay of civilization. Identification by teeth is not new. Bite marks may be found at a number of crime scenes. Human bite mark analysis is one of the most complicated and demanding part of forensic dentistry. The individuality of human dentition allows the forensic odontologists to reach to a strong opinion of association in cases of identification and bite mark analysis. In the cases of physical assault having skin injuries, the anatomy and physiology of skin and the position of the victim affect the detail and the shape of the bite mark and hence not all bite marks have the level of forensic value necessary to identify just one individual. Advanced techniques using digital overlays have been suggested. However the advent of DNA and its recovery from bite marks has offered an objective method of bite mark analysis. The issues within the bite mark analysis are discussed in this paper.