Forensic dentistry: A review.

Forensic dentistry is implicated in civil, criminal and research. It is useful for determination of age, sex and race in disputed cases. Age can be determined by using the criteria like eruption and calcification of teeth, Stack’s method, Miles formula, Boyde’s method and Gustafson’s method. For determination of sex Visual/ clinical, Microscopic and Advanced criteria are used. The peculiarities of the teeth will help in determination of race. Various methods like Universal system, Palmer’s system, Haderup system, Federation Dentuire Internationale (FDI), Modified Federation Dentuire Internationale (Modified FDI) and Zigmondy’s method are in use for charting of teeth worldwide. The knowledge of interpretation, preservation and correlation of bite marks will be helpful in administration of justice.

Study of clinical parameters in chronic periodontitis.

Back ground: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease, causes changes in peripheral blood markers with slight abnormal lipid profile including the production of different enzymes that are released by stromal, epithelial or inflammatory cells. These changes reflect metabolic changes in the gingival and periodontium in inflammation. Design of study: This important cohort study includes 54 subjects as chronic periodontitis patients along with 26 healthy age matched controls of both sexes, In this study, different peripheral blood markers (Neutrophils,WBC,RBC,Thrombocytes and Hb%), major inflammation markers (plasma Homocysteine, CRP),Total lipid profile (Cholesterol, TGL,HDL, LDL) and salivary enzymes (CK, LDH,AST, ALT, ALP, ACP and GGT) are studied to evaluate diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic effects in this disease. Results: Due to stasis of blood stream in periodontitis causes margination of central blood stream cells and finally there will be significant correlation in Neutrophils (r=0.342), WBC(r=0.431),thrombocytes(r=0.216),RBC(r=-0.183)Hblevel(r=-0.162).Inflammation markers and total lipid profile also show significant positive correlation: plasma homocystein (r=0.763),C-reactive protein(r=0.842),Total cholesterol,TGL,LDL (r=0.134,0.529,0.293) except HDL(r= -0.734). Salivary enzymes (CK-0.923, LDH-0.314, AST-0.841, ALT-0.832,ALP-0.782, ACP-0.826 and GGT-0.794) with gingival index and pocket depth. Conclusion: By studying this simple, economical clinical parameters we can assess the damage of periodontal tissue and useful in prediction of future risk of atherosclerosis in chronic periodontal patients.