Post-mortem dental profile as a powerful tool in animal forensic investigations—a review

Abstract

Simple Summary: Teeth are the hardest anatomical structure of the animal body. As a result, even when preservation conditions are extremely poor and the rest of the skeleton decomposes, the dentition is often still preserved. The strong nature of the teeth means that they are often an invaluable biological source of information about a deceased animal. This is particularly important in forensic investigations resolving legal disputes involving animals and in circumstances where the animal body is recovered a long time after death. The post-mortem dental profile can contribute information such as species identification, sex, age-at-death, body size, geographical origin (provenance), and postmortem interval. Although the dental profile may not lead to a positive identification, it can narrow the pool toward a presumptive identity. In this review, we briefly examine different dental techniques using characteristics of teeth as a means of identification of freshly deceased and skeletonised animals, highlighting the importance of dentition in the identification process in forensic contexts.

Abstract: Veterinary forensics is becoming more important in our society as a result of the growing demand for investigations related to crimes against animals or investigations of criminal deaths caused by animals. A veterinarian may participate as an expert witness or may be required to give forensic assistance, by providing knowledge of the specialty to establish a complete picture of the involvement of an animal and allowing the Courts to reach a verdict. By applying diverse dental profiling techniques, not only can species, sex, age-at-death, and body size of an animal be estimated, but also data about their geographical origin (provenance) and the post-mortem interval. This review concentrates on the dental techniques that use the characteristics of teeth as a means of identification of freshly deceased and skeletonised animals. Furthermore, this highlights the information that can be extracted about the animal from the post-mortem dental profile.