Dental Calculus Reveals Life History of Decedents in Forensic Cases: An Anthropological Perspective on Human Identification
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Dental calculus may be used to supplement or augment traditional forensic DNA samples as it has been shown to incorporate endogenous host-DNA and microbial DNA and external environmental inclusions. Analysis of calculus may provide important insights into decedents' lifestyle, diet, possible geolocation, and disease experience, resulting in a more holistic antemortem profile of unidentified individuals. Anthropologists have long analyzed calculus in investigations of human prehistory, dietary shifts, and disease loads in populations, but the use of calculus in forensic contexts has not been widely adopted and only minimally explored. This article explores the utility and significance of analyzing dental calculus as a noninvasive method during the human identification process, offers methodological overviews, and provides a critique and considerations for using endogenous microbial and host-DNA and calculus as forensic evidence.
Source: Forensic Genomics
Institutions: Idaho State University, University of New Hampshire
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4220773814