Pathology and Abnormalities of the Teeth as a Biographical Profile In Uncovering the Identity of Unknown Skeletal Remains

Proper identification of personal identity is essential in the investigation because mistakes can be fatal in the judicial process. Identification is based on the peculiar characteristics of the person. The possibility of positive identification will be increased when considering individualization factors as biographical profile material. The purpose of this paper is to describe the pathological conditions and abnormalities of teeth and jaws that can be utilized to increase the completeness of the biographical profile of a person. We use collections of human skeletons remains in Universitas Airlangga. For this preliminary study, we used 5 crania for observations. The assessment was based on macroscopic observational methods on the teeth and the alveolar bone. The results show that there are several pathological conditions and disorders that along with other peculiar characteristics of the individual will add to the individualization of the cranium. Several dental diseases that are found and can be used for positive identifications are periodontitis, dental caries, tooth fracture, dental impaction, excessive teeth, malposition and malrotation; and dental stain. Those characteristics altogether give the uniqueness of the individual. The characteristics should be compared to images of the person during his living years, and to his known habit-such as smoking and or drinking coffee/tea. Individualization is needed to enrich biographical profile data in identifying unknown human skeletal remains, through disease detection and projection of lifelong habit.