I love murder mysteries and shows like Forensic Files. I understand how fingerprints can be entered and matched as there is a national database for criminal offenders (and maybe non-criminal offenders? idk).
But when identifying bodies, which are sometimes usually severely decomposed or burnt, how are teeth identified? Is there a national database for dental records?
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In: Biology
Usually they have an idea who it is first…then they figure out who the dentist was (ask the family, or call around to insurance providers and see who billed the account), and ask to see their last X-ray. Oh look, fillings in these particular teeth, match!
Dental records. Teeth, being bones, usually survive when someone is severely decomposed or even burnt to death.
It is called Forensic Odontology. When you go to a dentist, s/he is obligated to keep the record of your teeth with them for a few years. The data looks like an alphanumeric code for the oral cavity. This database is available to the police, but not just like that waiting to be read.
The police has to suspect the identity of a person to be meaningfully looking into the database. When a person has been missing say , their dental records are especially procured if not already in the database. When a body is found, the available teeth are matched against the stored codes in the database.
This does not work if a person has not been to a dentist in a long time or ever.
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