Perhaps a more familiar term for this branch would be forensic dentistry. There are several important applications of dentistry to the forensic sciences. One of the most long-standing and important is the identification of a body from its dentition, which may be the only reliable way of identifying human remains in mass disasters, such as airplane crashes, fires, or wars. A body may be too badly damaged to have any fingerprints or usable DNA for typing, but dentition is very hardy and can survive crashes, fires, and even explosions. The forensic dentist can obtain an X-ray of the surviving teeth and compare it to antemortem dental X-rays. Of course, there must be some information about the possible identity of the body, and there must be some antemortem X-rays available for comparison. Almost anyone who has been to a dentist will have dental X-rays on file, so the main difficulty in such analysis is knowing whose X-rays to compare to the dental remains. A comparison of dental X-rays can lead to a definitive identification.
Forensic dentists also have an important role in the analysis of facial injuries received in a suspected battering. Their work is especially important in the case of children who may be brought to an emergency room at a hospital with facial injuries. A forensic dentist may be able to verify or refute a claim that the injuries were accidental, as a result of falling down a flight of stairs, for example. In such analysis, the forensic dentist will work closely with emergency room physicians and nurses and perhaps forensic pathologists.
Dentistry
Dentistry, the profession concerned with the prevention and treatment of oral disease, including diseases of the teeth and supporting structures and diseases of the soft tissues of the mouth. Dentistry also encompasses the treatment and correction of malformation of the jaws, misalignment of the teeth, and birth anomalies of the oral cavity such as cleft palate. In addition to general practice, dentistry includes many specialties and subspecialties, including orthodontics and dental orthopedics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral and maxillofacial pathology, endodontics, public health dentistry, and oral and maxillofacial radiology.
Dentistry, in some form, has been practiced since ancient times. For example, Egyptian skulls dating from 2900 to 2750 BCE contain evidence of small holes in the jaw in the vicinity of a tooth’s roots. Such holes are believed to have been drilled to drain abscesses. In addition, accounts of dental treatment appear in Egyptian scrolls dating from 1500 BCE. It is thought that the Egyptians practiced oral surgery perhaps as early as 2500 BCE, although evidence for this is minimal. An early attempt at tooth replacement dates to Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) around 600 BCE, where missing teeth were replaced with animal teeth and were bound into place with cord.
True restorative dentistry began with the Etruscans, who lived in the area of what is today central and northern Italy. Numerous dental bridges and partial dentures of gold have been found in Etruscan tombs, which date to about 500 BCE. The Romans, who conquered the Etruscans, adopted Etruscan culture, and dentistry became a regular part of Roman medical practice. The Greeks also practiced some form of oral medicine, including tooth extractions, from the time of Hippocrates, around 400 BCE.
In the Eastern world, dentistry had a totally different history. There is evidence that the early Chinese practiced some restorative dentistry as early as the year 200 BCE, using silver amalgam as fillings. Oral medicine was part of the regular medical practice in other early Asian civilizations, such as those in India and Japan.
Because of the proscription in the Qurʾan, the sacred scripture of Islam, against mutilating the body, surgery was not practiced in Islamic countries. Instead, reliance was placed upon healing through the use of herbs and medicines; preventive dentistry through strict adherence to oral hygiene became paramount. The writings of early Arabic physicians, such as Avicenna and Abū al-Qāsim, show that scaling and cleaning of teeth were practiced. Extractions were rare and were performed only when a tooth had been loosened.