Dental Analysis

Year
1
Academic year
2019-2020
Code
02036326
Subject Area
Forensic Anthropology
Language of Instruction
Portuguese
Other Languages of Instruction
English
Mode of Delivery
Face-to-face
Duration
SEMESTRIAL
ECTS Credits
6.0
Type
Compulsory
Level
2nd Cycle Studies - Mestrado

Recommended Prerequisites

None.

Teaching Methods

Teaching methodologies:

-  Lectures, using slides; in practical classes teeth casts and osteological collections (identified and non-identified) are used to introduce students to the practical study of dental anatomy, morphology and pathology.

- Research on several topics proposed, in order to deepen and consolidate the scientific knowledge.

- Implementation and monitoring of case studies in order to consolidate the acquired knowledge and skills for dental recording. 

Learning Outcomes

This course aims to provide students with essential knowledge about the methodologies used in the study of teeth from forensic contexts. Whereas the teeth are the part best preserved after an individual's death, the analysis of the dental morphological variation, oral pathology, dental restauration and developmental alterations, among others, is an essential tool in routine forensic cases. That is, the student acquires the necessary skills to carry out the identification of victims in forensic cases, as well as to estimate the age in expertises performed on living individuals.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Forensic Dental Medicine: definition, brief historical review, areas of practice.

Human dentition: anatomy and morphology.

Dental nomenclature.

Chronology of dental eruption.

Estimation of the minimum number of individuals through the teeth.

Establishment of the biological profile (ancestry, stature, and sex) through the teeth.

Age-at-death estimation through the teeth: methods for application in non-adults (sequence of formation and eruption of teeth, dental mineralization, measurement of  open dental apices) and in adults (tooth coloration, dental wear, root transparency, deposition of secondary dentin).

The importance of Forensic Dentistry in human identification: individualization factors; the particular case of non-metric dental characters.

The odontogram.

Head Lecturer(s)

Rosa Sofia da Conceição Neto Wasterlain

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Resolution Problems: 30.0%
Exam: 70.0%

Bibliography

Bowers 2011 Forensic dental evidence: an investigator’s handbook (2ed) Academic Press; Amsterdam.

Cameriere 2008 AgEstimation project: Cameriere’s methods for age estimation. EUM; Macerata.

Cameriere, Cunha, Wasterlain, De Luca, Sassaroli, Pagliara, Nuzzolese, Cingolani, Ferrante 2013 Age estimation by pulp/tooth ratio in lateral and central incisors by peri-apical X-ray. JFLM 20:530-536.

Corte-Real, Vieira (eds) 2015 Identificação em Medicina Dentária Forense. Imprensa UC; Coimbra.

Irish, Scott (eds) 2016 A Companion to Dental Anthropology. Blackwell Companion to Anthropology. Wiley Blackwell.

Iscan, Steyn 2013 The human skeleton in forensic medicine (3 ed). CC Thomas; Springfield: Cap.7.

Pereira 2012 Medicina Dentária Forense. Lidel; Lisboa.

Turner, Nichol, Scott 1991 Scoring procedures for key morphological traits of the permanent

dentition: the Arizona State University dental Anthropology system. In Kelley, Larsen (eds) Advances

in Dental Anthropology. Wiley-Liss; New York:13-31.