The Potential of Smile Photographs and a PM Intraoral Scanner for Dental Identification

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will be informed about a novel methodology for dental comparison involving the superimposition of Antemortem (AM) smiling photographs and Postmortem (PM) 3D intraoral scans. Impact Statement: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by sharing a novel approach that could perform dental comparisons in complex scenarios where AM material is scarce or difficult to access (such as historical cases, cases of refugees or migrants, or disaster victim identification), given that selfie-style photographs are increasingly accessible with the widespread use of phone cameras and social media. Implementing the acquisition of an intraoral scan within the autopsy workflow could yield a considerably higher number of first links for positive identifications with a relatively low time and cost investment.