Teaching Forensic Odontology in the Middle East - Essay Example

Teaching forensic odontology in the Middle East, especially (Saudi Arabia) Student Name Institution Introduction Forensic Odontology, which is also known as dentistry is a branch of forensic medicine that is dealing with the handling, examination and how to evaluate evidences that dental evidence. After a proper examination and evaluation of dental evidence, the evidence is to be presented in the interest of justices (Shamim et al., 2006-01 - 2006-03). Following multiply increased level of marital conflict, rape cases, mass and individual accidents, there has been an increase in the level of Forensic Odontology. It is used to help in the identification of human remains in cases where there is mass accident that results to fracturing of a people beyond normal recognition. Teeth can be helpful to help in identifying individuals by use of dental records such as ante-mortem and post-mortem, radiographs and DNA (Chaleby, 1996). Odontology also involves the use of bite marks that may result from a fight between an adult or even children that involve sexual or physical assault, rape, or attempted rape. With the use of bite marks, the persons responsible may be identified to help in delivering justice. Forensic Odontology can, therefore, be seen as an overlap that occurs between the legal profession and dental (Clement & Hill, 2005). The history of Odontology dates back in the days of Nero, 66 AD, when an instruction was given by Agrippina to her soldiers to bring back the head of Lollia Pauline as a proof she was killed (Pretty, & Sweet, 2001). Being unable to identify her using the head, Agrippa decided to use her teeth, and when she saw the discolored teeth, she confirmed that she was the one. Teeth have been referred as one of the things used to identify individuals because it is highly resistant to decomposition, and it is not destroyed easily. At the end of World War II, Odontology was used to identifying Adolf Hitler. The father of Forensic Odontology is Dr. Oscar who was the first treatise on forensic odontology in 1898 (Chaleby, 1996). Proper analysis of teeth can also be useful in the identification of age. This paper will look at teaching of forensic odontology in Middle East and more particularly Saudi Arabia. Forensic Science and the Law in the Middle East Forensic Science is a body of science that has multiple numbers of disciplines that work collectively or individually in answering questions that are in a legal context. When answers from a legal context that concern people and their own health, such as life or death of a person, are sort, forensic or legal medicine can play a major role (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. It is connecting medicine and law to form a special scientific basis that assist in legal procedures that relate to civil, medical, and or criminal cases. One of the major tasks that surround legal medicine is the identification of victims in mass or individual casualties (Chaleby, 1996). This body of science has developed interest in the Middle East more specifically in the Saudi Arabia. Even though Middle East is majorly comprised of Islamic practices, there are legal institutions are mostly based on British or European legal system due to the colonial influence (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. Islamic States such as Saudi Arabia have their inheritance, relationships, and personal status governed by a separate rule other than the legal rules by the colonial (Cameron & Sims, 1974). Islamic States are reforming their legal system to implement Islamic laws. Saudi Arabia is applying Islamic law (Sheria) in all legal issues with little influence from western legal systems (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. Forensic cases in Saudi Arabia are not influenced by the western as the country has their way of handling such cases. Forensic science departments like forensic pathology, toxicology, DNA, and medicine is established in Middle East (Chaleby, 1996). They follow investigative method reporting requirement of Western countries, however; the result is presented in Islamic law courts. In Saudi Arabia, there are restrictions on how people relate and on how civil cases are handled by the Sheria courts. Issues that are give wait by the legal bodies are personal relations, disbursement of life insurance proceeds, and execution of wills and such as cases. The Sheria laws have been incorporated such that forensic science is applied when handling these problems. Just like in other states, Saudi Arabia, has found it to be important to identify the dead earlier before burial. This has been considered important as it will ensure that no any legal issue that will arise after burial (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. The legal bodies in Saudi Arabia have established rules to positively establish the identity of the persons before burial and a burial certificate is issued (Cameron & Sims, 1974). Some of the things that have seen the interest of forensic science rising in Saudi Arabia are the conditions that have been set by the government that only those with a death certificate will be allowed for the payment of insurance policy. Insurance company will have to ascertain that diseased is the insurer before any payment is initiated (Cameron & Sims, 1974). Saudi Arabians have adopted the use of forensic science to assist in providing positive and accurate unknown decedent, which professional body can do even when there is only a fragment of the diseased remaining. Forensic Odontology in the Middle East Since Saudi Arabia is working on establishing forensic odontology, which requires the establishment of western standardization methods that will be presented in Islamic law (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. With the increase in the level of international involvement such as Disaster Victim Identification, Saudi Arabia needs to have unified methods of presenting forensic cases (Cameron & Sims, 1974). This will ensure that methodological approaches are used without additional resources to conduct further investigation that use international standards. In Saudi Arabia, unpopular nature of forensic odontology is not a problem of implementation, but the lack of willingness by professional bodies to push for the establishment of this important branch of science (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. The lack of a desire to have forensic odontology is promoted by the way investors look at private firms offering similar services as profit making institution. Overcoming this problem, with the intention of establishing competent team, require building individual capability in forensic science, there is an also going for higher education in forensic Odontology and finally providing appropriate tools and equipment for the missions of both overseas and local forensic science (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. There is a need to establish forensic odontology in, Saudi Arabia, as a program that will be fully based on western standards both in police institutions and universities. The need for Forensic Odontology in the Middle East Forensic odontology is very important in countries where there are constant wars that result to mass deaths. It is used to help identify individuals from mass deaths, help in cases of rape, and assault cases to discharge justice to the victims (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). Middle East has been known for mass murder cases and discovery of graves such as in Iraq. There were also reports, by Human Rights Activists, of missing persons throughout the time in power of Saddam Hussein, even though he denied (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. The same cases are also witnessed in Saudi Arabia, which makes it a potential place for forensic odontology to help in identifying the bodies of the missing persons and those who die in mass murders ( Herschaft & Rasmussen, 1978). Identification of bodies is a very massive undertaking that require careful planning in ensuring that evidences are fully recovered with an intention of identifying the victims. When human right organizations such as NATO and US along with the US forces came together to uncover the bodies, forensic science, forensic odontology, was employed to identify the bodies (Hill & Hardy, 2014). The same case is very important in Saudi Arabia t help, in the similar situations that are being witnessed in the country ( Herschaft & Rasmussen, 1978). The country experiences cases of genocide or mass murder, which also need the services of forensic deontologists who will help, identify the bodies of the victims (Hill & Hardy, 2014).. This is normally found to be simple or complex depending with the condition of the remains. There is also a need for forensic odontology in Saudi Arabia in creating a database for the suspected criminals (Chaleby, 1996). Database makes it easy to record dental characteristics of those suspected, unique dental markings makes it much easier to achieve this ambition. . So many people are suspected to be behind killing in Saudi Arabia but tracking them become very difficult due to improper data (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). When forensic odontology is used, people of Saudi Arabia will be able to convict these suspects more frequently to reduce cases of mass killings (Acharya, 2006). Even with all the needs to have forensic odontology in Saudi Arabia, there are several challenges that it still faces some, and some of these challenges include but not limited to; lack of awareness on the how important forensic odontology is by Saudi Arabian (Hill & Hardy, 2014). The other challenge is the culture of Saudi Arabian culture has been very slow to accept Odontology practices and Forensic Medicine. Saudi Arabia does not have legislation and regulation supporting forensic odontology (Hill & Hardy, 2014). It is also very expensive to establish Forensic odontology and train Saudi Arabian personnel. When these issues are addressed (Chaleby, 1996), a better ground will be provided to help develop equipped forensic odontology in Saudi Arabia with international standards. Establishing and teaching Forensic Odontology in the Middle East Having seen how much forensic odontology is needed in Middle East, and more specifically in Saudi Arabia, there is that equal need to see on how to establish this branch of science and find ways of teaching it. Some of the challenges that forensic odontology is facing in Saudi Arabia is lack of appropriate skills on the subject and not being informed on the importance of studying it (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). There are no forensic odontology programs in Saudi Arabia. With the assistance of international professionals, forensic odontology program can be established in universities such as King Sad University, King Abdulaziz University, and many others (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). With appropriate plans on the establishment and teaching of this subject, the people of Saudi Arabia will get to know how important it is, and they will be equipped with the universal standards of dealing with cases that involve the knowledge in Forensic Odontology (Interpol site, 2011). To build this topic in Saudi Arabia, campaign for this topic need to be done to ensure that the society understands the importance for it to be easily accepted in learning institution. The need for teaching odontology is different depending on depending on the level they are taught( Herschaft & Rasmussen, 1978). At undergraduate level, the topics include providing the history of forensic odontology; the other areas include identification of dental, disaster victim identification, the age estimate, bite marks, and finally dental malpractices (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). With a deeper understanding of these topics, undergraduate students will gain basic ways on how to apply dental tissues and the forensic request (Herschaft et al., 2006). For these topics to be sufficiently handled together with the practical exercise, there should be an approximate time of 10 hours slotted. According to Whittaker (1982), the next category that is considered when teaching forensic odontology is postgraduate level where more of training clinics among many other aspects on forensic science is taught (Mozayani, & Noziglia, 2006). The most commonly taught topics at this level are forensic pathology, anthropology, toxicology, and forensic DNA: these topics are made more interactive when being taught to a low for a proper understanding (Ashith, 2011). Looking at teaching odontology at the undergraduate level, the students are required to understand what forensic odontology and be introduced on the history of forensic odontology as traced from the time of NERO, and how it has been undergoing improvement as modern machines can now be used (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). The students are also taught about the dental identification which is the genesis of forensic contemporary odontology as the use of dental evidence to identify victims who have decomposed, burned or that which is not able to easily obtain its identity (Seen & Weems, 2013). For the disaster victim identification, students are taken through steps that can be used to help obtain identities in a situation where there has been a mass killing or a disaster that has left multiple numbers of people killed making it easy to identify individuals and perpetrators, as well (Pullon & Gantner, 1974). Bite marks are also very important topic but challenging area in forensic odontology. It helps in the important issues such as homicide, sexual assault, and many more investigations that are criminal in nature (Bowers & Bell, 1995). Identification of age is equally important when trying to identify victims, for one to be able to do age estimation there must be the knowledge on forensic odontology, and that is considered important when taught at undergraduate level ( Herschaft & Rasmussen, 1978). In the postgraduate level, students are required to get the knowledge on the nature of various types of diseases and causes, development, and possible consequences, which is addressed in the unit called pathology (Bowers & Bell, 1995). Toxicology as a unit in postgraduate deals with the nature, detection, effect, and the treatment of poisons and poisoning. Anthropology is another unit in postgraduate level that helps students to be informed on the humanity ( Herschaft & Rasmussen, 1978). According to Acharya (2006) all these units are considered essential as they will offer a good ground for understanding criminal cases and delivering justice through scientific means. There is need to train dentists on very practical aspects on forensic odontology in order to maximize dental application in forensics cases in Saudi Arabia, which is a good reason to expose dental undergraduates basic techniques and principles on the subject ( Herschaft & Rasmussen, 1978). This will be very essential to handle the many cases that have been witnessed in Saudi Arabia. Roles and responsibilities of Dentists Dentistry is very important to the law enforcement department in detection, and offering solutions in a civil proceeding and or crime. In most cases, forensic dentist is tasked with the role of establishing identity of the person (Avon, 2004). They also help in the recognition of the abuse on persons at any age level. The likes of dental professionals have a duty to keep very accurate records that relates to dental and offer very important information to legal authorities. The information is then used to recognize the negligence, malpractice, fraud, or abuse, and recognize humans that are unknown (Sunit Kumar, J. (2012). In most cases, the role of a dentist in Forensic Odontology is considered the identification of individuals who are deceased (Bowers & Bell, 1995). This role normally takes two main outlines; one is the performing examination for comparative identification intended to establish that the remains of the decedent is the same as those before death. In their view, Rai & Anand (2007) believed that the other form of identification where the ante-mortem records do not exist and that the postmortem records are used to narrow down the search to individual (Shekar & Reddy, 2009).. To come up with the records that can help discharge justice, dentists play a great role to provide these records. The challenges of forensic odontology as universal system Forensic odontology has several challenges especially with the globalization that the world is experiencing (Duncan, 1990). There is diverse origin and together with their racial and biological differences, it becomes very difficult to carry out a task on age estimation. Problems are created by difference in the ethical standards when doing analysis of human tissues. When doing autopsies, countries have different acts that govern the procedures that should be followed (Bernitz, 2009). Some acts find it acceptable to remove jaws of human when other countries take this to be an unacceptable act. According to Solheim et al,. (1992), this can bring a major conflict when there is mass disaster where people coming from different countries are involved. Multinational usually go for very expensive techniques of identifying individuals such as the use of DNA instead of the cheap dental identification for making profit. There are, therefore, moral and ethical challenges that are brought about by the emotional effect by the next of keen and the profit driven companies, which is a great challenge to the forensic odontology (Bowers & Bell, 1995). The other challenging is the lack of international standards to be used when training prospective students. Most courts have been seen challenging some of the decisions presented by incompetent odontologist. It is because there are no set norms regarding the competency standards. All these challenges make it very difficult for the professionals and the victims to have justice delivered in time (Abdel-Mottaleb et al., 2003). Conclusion Forensic odontology is a crucial discipline especially in identifying persons whose bodies cannot be easily identified due to burnt, decomposed, and in situations where the discipline could not be easily recognized (Komar & Buikstra, 2008). In cases where there is rape, any assault cases, odontology may be of great importance to deliver justice to the victims and to bring criminals to law. With several cases in Middle East, and in Saudi Arabia specifically, there is no proper forensic odontology due to, the nature of sheria laws, which is the main legal system in Saudi Arabia (Layde, 2004). It is important to establish a body that observes international standards on forensic odontology to address issues that are constantly before Saudi Arabia. Doing this would require the introduction of forensic odontology as a curriculum in both undergraduate and postgraduate. References Abdel-Mottaleb, M., Nomir, O., Nassar, D. E., Fahmy, G., & Ammar, H. H. (2003, December). Challenges of developing an automated dental identification system. In Circuits and Systems, 2003 IEEE 46th Midwest Symposium on (Vol. 1, pp. 411-414). IEEE. Acharya, A. B. (2006). Teaching forensic odontology: an opinion on its content and format*. 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