Abstract
Most personal identification techniques using dental forensics involve a direct comparison of analog images of the oral cavity with preexisting dental charts. Nevertheless, for the forensic identification of individuals, more efficient and faster methods are required. The progression in digital technology in dentistry has been remarkable, and oral scanning and digital X-ray imaging devices are now used routinely in dental practice. We report a new personal identification technique using intraoral Standard Triangled Language （STL） data, which were obtained using a digital intraoral scanner. We compared the STL data from two virtual corpses with those from a larger population of dental clinic patients to investigate whether the corpses could be identified based solely on the dental impression data. We applied the following two methods: analysis of the area of the three virtual planes connecting the cusp tip of the three adjacent molars （method A） and analysis of the area of the virtual three planes connecting the bulge of each of the three molars （method B）. No virtual corpse could be identified with either of the methods with a margin of error of 0mm2. Method A was able to perform the screening without omitting the individual within a margin error of ≥±4mm2 to obtain a positive result from the screening. In method B, the error range had to be increased to ≥±5mm2. Method A was able to search more accurately than method B, possibly because of the large standard deviation of the measured values across the two teeth. Method B might require multiple measurements to obtain accurate search results. In conclusion, we suggest that our new method could improve the efficiency of personal identification.
