Osama Bin Laden and Dental Records

As the world watches the story of the death of Osama Bin Laden unfold, much has been reported about the steps the attack team took to confirm Bin Laden's identity.  (CNN.com did an interesting piece on confirming the body was Bin Laden's.) While the U.S. team used a combination of photo comparisons and DNA, forensic experts often rely on dental records to confirm identity.

"Dental forensics can reveal much information about the person," says Dr. Jergins. "It can be as simple as noting how many teeth the person has, and using that data to determine age."

Forensic experts can also compare a person's teeth with known dental records to make a positive identification, along with evidence of good or poor dental hygiene and overall dental health.