Teledentistry and Forensic Odontology: Qualitative Study on the Capacity of Implementation

Céline Sabourin (), Nicolas Giraudeau, Eric Baccino, Frédéric Camarasa, Laurent Martrille and Camille Inquimbert
Additional contact information
Céline Sabourin: Department of Forensic Medicine Lapeyronie Hospital, University of Montpellier, 191 Av. du Doyen Gaston Giraud, CEDEX 05, 34295 Montpellier, France
Nicolas Giraudeau: Dental Department, Montpellier University Hospital, University of Montpellier, 34080 Montpellier, France
Eric Baccino: Department of Forensic Medicine Lapeyronie Hospital, University of Montpellier, 191 Av. du Doyen Gaston Giraud, CEDEX 05, 34295 Montpellier, France
Frédéric Camarasa: Department of Forensic Medicine Lapeyronie Hospital, University of Montpellier, 191 Av. du Doyen Gaston Giraud, CEDEX 05, 34295 Montpellier, France
Laurent Martrille: Department of Forensic Medicine Lapeyronie Hospital, University of Montpellier, 191 Av. du Doyen Gaston Giraud, CEDEX 05, 34295 Montpellier, France
Camille Inquimbert: Dental Department, Montpellier University Hospital, University of Montpellier, 34080 Montpellier, France

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: The postmortem identification of people without an identity is performed either by using DNA, dental charts, or fingerprints (until advanced decomposition prevents their study). The lack of forensic dentists who can conduct identifications lead us to reflect on the use of digital technology in this area. The aim of this study was to validate the organizational capacity of using teledentistry for the identification of bodies in a forensic medicine department. A mixed observational study was conducted on 55 cases between July 2020 and February 2021 in the Forensic Medicine and Thanatology Department of Montpellier University Hospital. The protocol was structured in five steps: an initial interview with the agent (a forensic autopsy technician/caregiver specialized in forensic medicine), regarding the idea they had in terms of using telemedicine in their daily practice; agent training in the telemedicine system; realization of a clinical examination using an intra-oral camera by the agent; data analysis by a dental surgeon; final interview with the agent. The study was conducted on 55 subjects. The average age was 54 years old, with more than two-thirds of the patients being male (69%). The videos had an average duration of 29 min. There was an increase in visit duration when rigidity was high; this was also the case when there were many dental specificities in the oral cavity. The quality of the videos was either good or excellent. This study showed that remote identification could be considered as a new non-invasive identification tool. Many features were analyzed to create a training guide for forensic institutes.

Keywords: forensic dentistry; telemedicine; identification; teledentistry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6807/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6807/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:19:p:6807-:d:1245744

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().