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BITE

MARKS
GUIDED BY:- SUBMITED BY:-
DR. ABHISHEK DIXIT DAVE
SINGHVI
DR. SANYA BHATIA
DR. GURDEEP
SINGH
CONTENTS :-
• INTRODUCTION
• CLASSIFICATION OF BITE MARKS
• BITE MARKS APPEARANCE
• BITE MARKS INVESTIGATION
• BITE MARKS ANALYSIS AND
COMPARISON
• CONCLUSION IN BITE MARK ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
• Bite marks have been
defined by MacDonald as ‘a
Mark caused by the teeth
either alone or in
combination with other
mouth parts. Bite marks may
be caused by humans or
animals. They may be on
tissue, food items or on
objects.
• Biting is considered as to be a primitive
type of assault and results when teeth
are employed and results when teeth
are employed as weapon in act of
dominance or desperation. As a results,
bite marks are usually associated with
sex crimes violent fights, and child
abuse &theft.

• Sweet and pretty believe that the size,


shape, and pattern of the incisal or
biting edge of upper and lower anterior
• Hence theoretically at
least a biter’s teeth. this
may be crucial to identify
a criminal or to exclude
an innocent suspect, both
of which are equally
important.
CLASSIFICATION OF
BITE MARKS
• Cameron and Sims’ classification
• MacDonald’s classification
• Webster’s classification
Cameron and Sims’
classification
This is based on the type of agent producing the bite
mark and the material exhibiting it.
Agents :
 Human
 Animal Materials
 Skin body tissue
 Foodstuff
 Other materials
MacDonald’s
classification
This is pertinent for human bite marks, but
MacDonald adds, it is equally applicable to
marks on other materials.

A. Tooth pressure marks :-


Direct application of pressure by teeth.
These are generally produced by the incisal
or occlusal surfaces of teeth.
B. Tongue pressure marks :-
The tongue presses it against rigid areas
such as the lingual surfaces of teeth and
palatal rugae.
The marks thus left on the skin are
referred to as ’suckling’. Since there is a
combination of sucking and tongue
thrusting involved.

C. Tongue Scrape marks :-


These are marks caused due to scraping
of teeth across the bitten material.
Webster’s
classification:-
This is especially so in case of theft or
robbery at residence.
• Type1 : The food item fracture readily with limited
depth of tooth preparation. eg dairy milk.
• Type2 : Fracture of fragment of food item with
considerable penetration of teeth. eg apple
• Type3 : Complete or near complete penetration of
food item with side marks. eg cheese.
BITE MARK APPEARANCE
• TYPE OF INJURY : Compression of the
skin surface due to tooth pressure during a
bite initially causes indentations.
1. Abrasion
2. Ecchymosis
3. Laceration
4. Petechial hemorrhage
5. Incision
IDENTIFYING INJURY AS
A BITE MARK
GROSS FEATURES
• Circular/elliptical mark-upper & lower arch
• Central area ecchymosis-sucking action-
distinct

CLASS FEATURES
• Incisor-rectangular
• Canines-triangular
• Premolars-molars = spherical/point
shaped
Individual features
• Fractures/rotations/spacing

SITE OF BITE
MARKS
: pretty and sweet
 Females - sexual
assault, breast & legs
 Males – fights, arms &
shoulders
BITE MARK
INVESTIGATION
• PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS - Drinnan and Melton
as well as sweet, have emphasized that any
attempt at bite mark investigation should begin
with the following questions :

1.Is the injury a bite mark?

2. If a bite was caused by human teeth?


3.Does the age of the bite
mark correspond to the
time and type of crime?

4.Are there any unique,


individual characteristics in
the bite mark?

5.Can these
characteristics be Following a fight in a
public house, this man
compared to the teeth of had part of his ear bitten
the suspect? off.
Bite mark evidence collection
from the victim
According to
• Case
ABFOdemographics : Vital information
pertaining to the case should first be noted.
For example, name, age, sex, date of
examination, name of examiner.
• Visual Examination:-
1. Orientation and location of the mark
2. Type of injury
3. Color, size and shape
4. Contour texture, and elasticity of the bite
site.
PHOTOGRAPHY:-
Photographs provide a permanent record of bite
marks. therefore no time should be lost in
obtaining pictures. Since the injury changes
appearance rapidly due to healing. It is desirable
to have photographs from two views:

1. Orientation photographs - Photographs that


depict the location of bite marks of bite marks on
the body.
2. Close-up photographs - these should be made
with a rigid reference scale (such as the ABFO
No.2 scale) that is placed on the same plane as
According to sweet and pretty, the
decreases perspective distortion
of the image of the due to off-
angle camera position.
If the bite is on curved surface
and the upper and lower arch
marks are wide apart, separate,
photographs of each marks
should be taken. Brown states
that when the victim is alive
photographs can be repeated
every 24 hours for 3-4 days to
record progressive changes in
COLLECTION OF ITEMS:-
• Dental impression of the victim self-
biting/bite injuries of suspect.
• DNA swabbing of the injury site – double
swab-the first moistened with distilled
water and the second dry
• Impression of the bite injury - significant
degree of three dimensional detail is
present
• Skin removal – permits trans-illumination
of bite mark, flawed-skin contraction.
ANALYSIS OF
BITEMARK INJURIES
• Accidental or non-accidental
• American board of forensic
odontology [ABFO]
• Exclusion - the injury is not a
bitemark.
• Possible bite mark - Injury showing a
pattern that may or may not be caused by
the teeth could be caused by other factors
but biting cannot be ruled out.
• Probable bite mark - The pattern strongly suggests
or supports origin from teeth but could conceivably
be caused by something else.

• Definite bite mark - There is no reasonable doubt


that teeth created pattern.
CONCLUSIONS IN BITE
MARK ANALYSIS
• Definite biter : medical certainty + bite
marks dimension/pattern similar to
suspect teeth.
• Probable biter : degree of specificity
with suspect teeth > matching points.
• Possible biter : consistency non specific
match
• Not the biter : not at all consistent
• Exclusion: not a bite mark.
THANK
YOU

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