forensic- odontology
by Leif Kullman
Forensic odontology links
This month I will report about useful forensic odontology addresses in the Internet. An excellent starting point for a search in Internet in a subject like Forensic Odontology is the homepage of an International Society, if such a society exists. In Forensic Odontology it does, since 1973, and its name is THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR FORENSIC ODONTO-STOMATOLOGY, with the official abbreviation I.O.F.O.S. The address to the homepage of the society is http://www.oduciv.lu.se/depts/uciv/iofos/iofos.html.
The objects of this society is to provide a liaison between societies of forensic odontology on a global basis. and to promote goodwill, advancement and research in forensic odontology.
A newsletter is published on a regular basis including a Web version that is linked from the Society´s homepage.
The official scientific organ of IOFOS is the Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology. It is edited by Dr.Thomas in Australia. The Journal is fully indexed and is found upon searches in the large databases, i.e. MEDLINE. The Journal has a well renowned referee system.
Any local society in any country in the world may be given membership, provided its regulations are in accordance with I.O.F.O.S. objectives. Twenty-four nations are today members of IOFOS. The Society is managed by the Executive, consisting of a President, Vice-President, Secretary/Treasurer and Editor. These should normally come from the same member society. Sweden is since last year this country and President is Dr. Håkan Mörnstad, who has started and who maintains the homepage in Internet of IOFOS.
We can continue our searching by looking at all member societies in IOFOS homepage. Some national societies have started own homepages and are today linked from IOFOS homepage.
They are:
American Society of Forensic Odontology (http://homepages.together.net/~daverill/asfo.html)
Australian Society of Forensic Odontology (http://www.uq.edu.au/asfd/)
British Association of Forensic Odontology (http://dragon.herts.ac.uk/project/bafo.htm)
Swedish Society of Forensic Odontology (http://rtgsun.rtg.ofa.ki.se/forodont/forening/srf1.htm)
The American homepage contains a short presentation of the Society and a couple of links while the Australian homepage have a menu with subheadings that it is possible to continue to follow. These subheadings are
Emergency Forensic-Odontologists on Call
Information about the ASFD
Members and Services
Education
Forensic Dentistry on the Web
Worldwide Forensic -Resources on the Web
International Association for Craniofacial Identification (IACI)
IACI Newsletters
The British homepage contains information about B.A.F.O. (the British Association of Forensic Odontology). Meetings of the association, available forensic odontologists and so on. There is information on a Diploma course in Forensic Odontology and like the Australian homepage finally other useful pages and links according to the webmaster.
The three country sites mentioned are all in the English language. The fourth- the Swedish homepage uses also its native language- Swedish. However it distinguishes itself in the service to its constituency by also having entries about the history of the Swedish Society and also includes the reports from the annual meetings of both the Society and its Board. Postgraduate education and training in forensic odontology is firmly in the hands of the Society and announced in the homepage. About 10 separate short courses exist, focusing various speciality areas (identification techniques and different identification protocols, bite mark analyses, age determinations). Finally links to various other interesting Web sites are available in the Swedish Society´s homepage.
The only academic department, as far as I have found, that has an own Web site is the one at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.The address is http://rtgsun.rtg.ofa.ki.se/forodont/fohome.htm.
A staff directory is found here and teaching files for the dental students. A compendium in Forensic Odontology (in Swedish) is here available to read and the research of the department is presented.
For those, who are interested in participating in discussion or mailing lists, there is a list available in Forensic Odontology. The address is mailserv@ldc.lu.se.
Interested can send an e-mail to this address and write the following in the message box: subscribe FORDENT followed by your e-mail (subscribe FORDENT john@domain.com). Note that everything else, such as signature files etc should be left out of the message.
Finally there are a couple of personal sites that are very nice and useful for all kind of knowledge about forensic matters, i.e. Forensic Medicine, Forensic Psychiatry, Forensic Toxicology and related topics. The address to one of this sites is: http://users.bart.nl/~geradts/forensic.html#Forensic Medicine.
Another very personal and nice site is found in the address http://www.mdtforen.u-net.com/.
Next month I will write about some fuss between two alcoholics which lead to death for one of them. I was able to take a good impression of the marks on the used weapon and the guilty woman could be convicted in court.
Leif Kullman
