Tooth loss, postmortem

The most common application of forensic odontology is the identification of deceased individuals. Dental identification of human remains may result from a number of situations whereby the body is disfigured to such an extent that visual identification is not possible. Such situations include the victims of fire, violent crime, motor vehicle accidents, mass disaster, bodies found in water, and decomposed remains. Occasionally a body s dentition may be used for purposes other than identification, and several studies have investigated postmortem tooth loss as a potential indicator of time since death (Hall 1997 McKeown and Bennett 1995). 

Tooth enamel represents one of the most resistant skeletal tissues to post-depositional decay in a burial environment (Duric, Rakocevic, and Tuller 2004), and, as a result, teeth are often the only identifying feature of a skeleton to remain. As decomposition proceeds, the loss of soft tissue around the mandible allows the exposed teeth to become dislodged from their original anatomical position. Postmortem tooth loss has been described as a possible indicator of PMI and appears to be dependent on age, periodontal health, seasonality, and location of the body placement (McKeown and Bennett 1995). Cadavers that are deposited in the summer months will undergo a more rapid process of soft-tissue decomposition and thus lose teeth more rapidly than bodies that decompose in the autumn or winter months. Similarly, a cadaver exposed to direct sunlight, or even deposited in a shaded area, will decompose and lose teeth more rapidly than a cadaver that has been buried. The... 

More recently, the effect of postmortem interval, excavation methods, and root morphology on the rate of postmortem tooth loss has been investigated from both an archaeological and forensic context (Duric et al. 2004). In both contexts, postmortem tooth loss was shown to be a result of soft-tissue decomposition and therefore directly influenced by the postmortem interval. Additionally, the differences in root morphology were determined to be a significant factor related to postmortem tooth loss. However, an expected correlation between postmortem tooth loss and the excavation methods of the burial environment was not identified. Both of these studies represent preliminary research, and further controlled research is required to establish the value of postmortem tooth loss as a PMI indicator. 

Duric, M Rakocevic, Z and Tuller, H. (2004). Factors affecting postmortem tooth loss. / Forensic Sci. 49,1313-1318. 

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