Forensic dentistry and dental hygiene: how can the dental hygienist contribute?
Introduction: The objective of this literature review was to determine and summarize existing roles for dental hygienists in forensic odontology. Method: The method used was to search and review the limited number of studies published on involvement of dental hygiene in forensic dentistry. The first stage of review was searching PubMed, Ovid, nursing journals, dental hygiene journals, the Internet and university library resources as well as information from one dental hygienist author’s direct involvement in forensic dentistry. The second stage of the search used all the papers from the initial search as well as bibliographies and references for additional articles and information. Result: The results of this literature review revealed that dental hygienists are involved in areas such as personal identification by means of the dental records, disaster victim identification, professional negligence and dental standards of care issues and recognition and analysis of the injuries associat
