A IMPORTÂNCIA DA ATUAÇÃO DO CIRURGIÃO DENTISTA NO INSTITUTO MÉDICO LEGAL

Abstract

Introduction: The Legal Medical Institute is a public reference department for identifying violations of the individual’s integrity. In this regard, dentists are the health professionals who work in dentistry for analysis and production of concrete evidence in typification of crimes. Objective: To clarify the performance and methods used by the dentist in the IML. Method: Literature was reviewed using the authenticated search engine in PubMed (Medline), Bireme, Scielo and Google Scholar databases. Boolean operators were used. Relevant articles to the topic and aim were included in thepresent study. Congresses abstracts and incomplete texts were excluded. Results: After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, the dentist’s performance in Legal Medical Institute is in criminalistics, including human identification by dental arches, forensic traumatology, forensic tanatology, forensic anthropology, ballistics, facial reconstruction and expertise in living person in cases of bodily injury (biting marks). Conclusions: The performance of the dentist in the IML is wide and fundamental in legal proceedings. The methods used for forensic purposes are diversified and are mainly based on dental documentation and/or cadaveric analysis to identify the cause of death or type of injury.