Importância da documentação odontológica para identificação humana em desastres em massa por meio do protocolo Disaster Victim Identification: revisão da literatura

Abstract

Forensic odontology is known in the literature as one of the most reliable and cost-effective scientific methods for identifying victims in mass disasters. The aim of this paper is to review the literature and discuss the importance of dental documentation for human identification in mass disasters using the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) protocol recommended by INTERPOL. Searches were carried out in the PubMed database between 2009 and 2023, using the following descriptors “forensic dentistry” OR “legal dentistry” AND “human identification” AND “mass disasters” AND “DVI”, totaling 23 studies. It emerged that the success of the comparative dentistry technique for human identification is closely related to the quality and availability of ante-mortem data. Some of the most common dental documentation has high legal value according to the DVI, such as odontograms, imaging tests, plaster models, prostheses, orthodontic appliances, implants, clinical photographs and others. However, ante-mortem documentation was found to be lacking and of poor quality, requiring widespread dissemination among dental surgeons of knowledge about legal dentistry and the need to keep complete, objective and available dental records.