A Critical Role for Forensic Odontology in Disaster Victim Identification: the Tsunami Aftermath in Thailand
The tsunami catastrophe occurring in the six southern Andaman coast provinces of Thailand in December 2004 immensely impacted not only many local Thai people but also foreigners from various countries. One of the major problems directly confronting the government was how to identify the large number of dead bodies. This challenging task caused many Thai dentists involved in this mass disaster to recognize their critical role in forensic odontology for the first time. We here, therefore, addressed an important role of dentists in forensic identification as conducted for tsunami victims, including dental examination and recording and using teeth as a source of DNA. In spite of impediments, difficulties, challenges and limitations, Thai dentists had shown their leading role in forensic odontology. Yet, many lessons learned from the tsunami catastrophe should be further explored and used for any possible mass disasters in the future.
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