Sex determination in forensic identification, a review.

Forensic odontology is the application of dental principles to legal issues. It is an investigative aspect of dentistry that analyzes dental evidence for human identification. Sex determination is a subdivision of forensic odontology, and it is important especially when information relating to the deceased is unavailable. Sex determination becomes the first priority in the process of identification of a person by a forensic investigator in the case of mishaps, chemical and nuclear bomb explosions, natural disasters, crime investigations, and ethnic studies. Determination of sex/gender using skeletal remains presents a great problem to forensic experts, especially when only fragments of body are recovered. Forensic odontologist can assist other experts to determine the sex of the remains using teeth and skull traits. Various features of teeth such as morphology, crown size, and root length are characteristics for male and female sexes. There are also differences in the skull pattern and skull traits of two sexes. These will help forensic odontologists to identify the sex of the remains. The library dissertation contents and several articles and books were electronically searched in Google using the keywords "sex determination," "forensic dentistry," "sex determination in forensic dentistry." The contents were screened between 1950 and 2015 by going through the title and abstracts and full-text reading. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the different methods of sex determination.

Treatment of Oral Leukoplakia with Diode Laser: a Pilot Study on Indian Subjects.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety, convenience and effectiveness of 940nm diode laser for treatment of homogenous leukoplakia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten patients having homogenous leukoplakia which were diagnosed clinically were selected from an Indian dental educational institution for the study. Toludine blue staining was applied locally over the lesion. The area where there was increased uptake of stain was excised using a 940 nm EZLASE TM diode laser (BIOLASE-USA). RESULTS: Although various treatment modalities have been tried and the search continues for novel treatment modalities for complete removal of homogenous leukoplakia, from results of our preliminary pilot study it is clear that the use of 940 nm diode laser as a treatment modality for homogenous leukoplakia is a good substitute. Healing was perfect without any complication within a duration of 1 month. Pain intensity was also mild and absolutely zero on the VAS scale after 1 month follow up. CONCLUSIONS: 940 nm diode lasers are safe and can be effectively used as a treatment modality of homogenous leukoplakia, without any complication and without compromising health and oral function of patients. Considering recurrence factor, long term follow up for patients is a must.