The Discrimination Potential of Amalgam Restorations for Identification

Twelve concordant features are considered the minimum requirement for dental identification by Keiser-Nielsen. The standard dental radiological pictures of the teeth provide a morphological view of amalgam restorations that is possible to duplicate and be used for comparison purposes in identification procedures. Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate the radiological morphology of standardized compound amalgam fillings in molar teeth with regard to their discriminatory potential for identification purposes. Materials & Methods: Forty Typodont® teeth were collected in which 3-surface amalgam fillings had been placed by undergraduate students. Two sets of radiographs were taken of the lateral aspect of the filled teeth thus simulating standard “bitewing” dental radiographs. Ten randomly selected radiographs of (Set2) were compared to the 40 of (Set 1)and examined independently by 9 observers. Results: Seven out of 9 examiners were able to match all 10 of Set2 radiographs to the 40 of the Set1. Two examiners obtained 9 out of 10 correct. Conclusion: The above study has shown conclusively that a compound silver amalgam filling in a molar tooth has an extraordinary radiographic shape and a higher discriminatory potential. This suggests that less than 12 concordant features are necessary for positive dental identification. One extraordinary silver amalgam filling could therefore be used for positive identification of a person.