evidence management 397compliance with the security protocols of the local medical examiner’s office
(i.e., signing in, utilizing restricted access card entry systems, completing
chain-of-custody/examination certifications, etc.).
In cases where forensic dental evidence is delivered to the dentist’s office,
an office protocol should be established logging the evidence into the facility.
Once in the facility, the evidence should be secured from public access.
Reference as to how evidence is secured within the facility, as well as log
entries detailing acceptance of evidence into and departure out of the facility,
should be included in the final analytical report.
17.5 Initiate a Preliminary SurveyWhen evidence is delivered to the odontologist, the preliminary survey
should begin by assessing the composition of the evidence. The dentist should
ensure that any packing list, narrative description, or telephonic conversa-
tion describing the received evidence accurately depicts the items delivered.
Extensive notes should be initiated at this time. Any discrepancies in the con-
tents of the evidence delivery from the description provided to the forensic
dentist should be resolved prior to initiating any further analysis. Similarly,
this survey technique should be utilized at the medical examiner’s office:
Are the remains within the body bag consistent with the medical examiner’s
report with regard to sex, stature, race, cause and manner of death? Are all
loose teeth accounted for in the body bag?
The preliminary survey at a remote crime disaster scene provides an orga-
nizational baseline for the odontologic examination. While the medical exam-
iner’s office or the dentist’s private facility provides a controlled environment
for forensic dental evidence examination, the remote crime disaster scene is
subject to external environmental influences that may degrade the quality of
forensic evidence available for analysis.
To that end, any transient evidence (i.e., avulsed teeth about to be washed
down a storm sewer during a rain storm) should be identified at the pre-
liminary survey stage, photographed in place, and collected as evidence in an
expeditious manner. Once transient evidence is secured, the odontologist’s
role in the preliminary survey stage would entail cautiously walking through
the scene, with the investigator in charge, in order to assess the forensic dental
implications of the available physical evidence and the impact of environ-
mental factors thereon.
Extensive notes should be taken documenting the scene’s physical and
environmental conditions. Notes can be written or captured via electronic
dictation. Based upon this preliminary survey, the odontologist should
determine what additional personnel, equipment, and appropriate method-
ology would be required to preserve and collect the forensic dental-specific