Bite marks are found in several crime cases like sexual assault, quarrels, homicide and rarely burglary.

Biting is used by human beings both for offence and defense. It is the challenging aspect to determine if the injury has been caused by teeth or is merely mimicking a bite mark. A human bite mark is often more circular or oval. But animal bite mark is usually narrow U-shaped. When the bite marks are found on crime scene, the most common method used to document and preserve this evidence is through use of photography. Two key factors are important while taking photography is: 1st that it is required to take both color and black & white photographs. 2nd related with photographs showing general orientation and details of bite marks and taking close-up photographs with and without ABFO scale.

After photography Swabbing of bite mark area are required to be performed to recover biological trace evidence like saliva etc. which is usually deposited while biting. . MORPHOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS The following measurements of bite marks will be taken with the help of ABFO scale: Maximum Height of an Arch: It is the straight distance between highest point of upper jaw and lowest point of lower jaw on bite mark. Maximum Breadth of an Arch i.e Jaw width-: Distance between two canines of same jaw (Canine is chosen as reference because these are the most laterally projected points and are most commonly present in the bite marks). Distance between distal line angles of two incisors; measured for both the jaws.

Saliva swabs Saliva will have been deposited on the skin during biting or sucking and this should be collected and analyzed. Use the double swab technique:10 first, a cotton swab moistened with distilled water is employed to wash the surface that was contacted by the tongue and lips using light pressure and circular motions. Then, a second swab that is dry is used to collect the remaining moisture that is left on the skin by the first swab. Both swabs

are thoroughly air-dried at room temperature for at least 45 minutes before they are released to police authorities for testing. 1. Species of origin- by preparing agarose gel and adding antiserum Of respective species( human, Dog, Buffalo, Cow) , The white line formed in between sample and respective antiserum determines the species. 2. determine the sex of an individual by observing the shape of an arch, difference in the morphometric measurements of bite marks, presence of Barr bodies .The saliva sample collected by double swab technique is checked for the presence of Barr bodies using orcein solution

3. DNA profiling. Before making any analysis of bite marks, the Saliva samples will be collected from bite marks and surrounding area by Double Swab Technique [Sweet etal. (1996)].