Course name: Forensic Dentistry

​

Course Director: Dr. Robert B.J. Dorion, Assistant Professor, McGill University

​

Course Description: The examination, interpretation, and presentation of dental and oral evidence for legal purposes

​

Forensic Dentistry Foundational Issues:

​

        Human identification by comparative dental analysis

        Human age assessment by dental analysis

        Analysis of the suspected pattern of dental origin

        Comparison of bitemarks to dentition

        Oral and facial injuries

        Human abuse and neglect (Child, Sexual, Intimate Partner and Elder)

        Dental Litigation (Fraud, Malpractice, Personal Injury, Expert Witness, etc.)

​

Forensic Dentistry Involves: 

​

Dental Age Estimation (DAE)

Indentification of the living and the deceased

Bitemark identification, analysis, and comparison

Lip print indetification, analysis, and comparison

Rugae print identification, analysis, and comparison

Patterned injury identification, analysis, and comparison

Identification of dental specimens at a crime scene or elsewhere

Evaluation of oro-facial trauma and compensation

Malpractice and negligence in dentistry

 

Forensic Dentistry Means of Identification:

​

TEETH: natural and synthetic (fixed and removable)

BONE: trabecular pattern, tori and osseous anomalies

PRESENCE OF FOREIGN BODIES: implants, unretrieved amalgam particles, surgical instruments, bullets, fragments of various origins

SINUS CONFIGURATION: maxillary and frontal

SKULL SUTURES

SOFT TISSUE FEATURES: rugae (rugoscopy) and lip (cheiloscopy, quieloscopy) prints

PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPARISON: facial or dental superimposition or approximation

DENTAL and SALIVARY DNA

​

 

Course Type: Distance learning course*

​

Course Objectives:

The course provides theoretical and practical knowledge in forensic dentistry. In addition, registrant who successfully complete the four modules should attain the necessary knowledge, education, training, and experience to partially fulfill the requirement for board eligibility for the American Board of Forensic Odontology

​

Course Schedule:   

• August 13 - September 16, 2023         Module 1

• September 17 - November 4, 2023     Module 2

• November 5 - December 9, 2023        Module 3 

• January 14 - April 13, 2024                   Module 4

​

APPLICATIONS FOR THE FORENSIC DENTISTRY PROGRAM ARE NOW OPEN FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-2024. APPLICATION DEADLINE IS JUNE 1, 2023

​

Course Fees: See Application Form 2023-2024

 

Course Modules: 

All modules receive Continuing Education Credit from the Quebec Order of Dentists (ODQ) and can be applied as credit to The American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ Odontology Section, and the  American Board of Forensic Ondotology in partial fulfilment to exam eligibility.

​

Course Awards: A registrant who completes the time requirements, theoretic, analytic, practical assignment and the examination components of a module receives:

​

• a Continuing Education attestation on completion of a module, or

• a Continuing Education certificate in Forensic Dentistry following completion of all four modules.

 

McGill Continuing Dental Education is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider.

 

Course applicants:

Course applicants must possess a DDS, DMD or equivalent degree from a recognized academic institution. All course registrants must possess a license to practice dentistry and have at least 5 years of clinical experience. Course applicants must have a working knowledge of Photoshop / Creative Cloud(c) (Adobe Systems Inc)

​

 

The faculty reserves the right to accept applications (or not) after the application deadline. For late applications contact conted.dentistry@mcgill.ca

​

Course Registrants:

Course registrants must partake in weekly webinars with fellow registrants and/or individual instruction/discussion with the Course Director.

​

Course Equipment:

Course registrants must possess a notebook/portable PC/Ipad or comparable computer, a variety of software programs including Adobe Photoshop CS6 or Creative Cloud(c) (Adobe Systems, Inc.) subscription, a digital camera with downloading capabilities and high-speed Internet access.

​

Course Restrictions:

McGill University, the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, and the Course Director reserve the right to limit the number of modules offered in any given year, to cancel a module, and to restrict the number of registrants in any given module.

​

General Considerations:

All course material, lectures, correspondence are in the English language,

All listed fees/dues are in Canadian funds.

​

Course History:

*McGill University, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, is proud to have been the first academic institution to offer a forensic odontology/dentistry online course since 2004. The advantages of a distance learning course include arranging your professional and personal schedule without disruption, without loss of income as a result of having to refuse patients, pay wages to personnel, as well as the costs of travel, ground transportation, accommodation, other additional expenses, delays, time lost, and other external factors over which one has no control such as pandemic travel restrictions, flight cancellations, etc.