OCR AAQ Applied Science • F185 • Lesson 4 • Task 1 preparation

Forensic Odontology: Teeth and Marks

How teeth can provide forensic evidence — while keeping simple teeth-mark comparison appropriately cautious.

📖 Forensic Odontology: Overview and Bite-Mark Controversy📖 Human skeleton 3D (wider anthropology)
By the end

You should be able to…

  • define forensic odontology
  • describe useful measurable features of teeth or a teeth mark
  • carry out a simple questioned-reference comparison
  • explain why an observational mark comparison should not be treated as unique proof
What could make teeth useful forensic evidence?
Relevant branch

Odontology: what can teeth tell us?

Click each information panel. It opens straight to the information — no extra reveal.

🦷Forensic odontologyDental evidence used in forensic investigations.Click for information
📋Dental recordsDocumented dental features can support identification.Click for information
🍎Teeth-mark comparisonRecord size, spacing, pattern and visible features.Click for information
⚠️LimitationsA mark in a material is not a perfect copy of someone's teeth.Click for information
Important distinction: dental-record identification and a simple bite/teeth-mark comparison are not equivalent. Keep school-level mark comparisons cautious.
measure width / spacingRecord:• size• spacing• pattern
What could distort a teeth mark?
Teacher model

Questioned mark vs references

The questioned mark has an overall width of 42 mm, a wider central gap and one visibly angled impression. Reference A shares all three.

Would one matching measurement be enough?
Guided practice

Choose the most defensible conclusion

Press start

Work through the cases one at a time.

These are parallel practice examples, not the live set assignment.

Independent consolidation

The Bitten Energy Bar

SampleWidthCentral gapFeature
Questioned41 mm5 mmleft front impression angled
A41 mm5 mmleft front impression angled
B46 mm3 mmnone visible
C40 mm8 mmright front impression angled
  1. Which reference is most consistent?
  2. Use at least three observations.
  3. Give one limitation.

Review notes

  • Forensic odontology applies dental knowledge to forensic investigations.
  • Dental-record comparison can support identification where sufficient corresponding features exist.
  • Teeth-mark comparison can record size, spacing, pattern and visible distinctive features.
  • Marks can be distorted by material, angle, pressure, movement and damage.
  • Use 'most consistent with' rather than treating a school comparison as unique identification.
  • Forensic anthropology is a wider branch involving skeletal evidence; it is awareness-level here.

Glossary

Why this matters for Task 1

P1 may require students to identify odontology when teeth/dental evidence is relevant. P3/M2 then require a workable comparison method and a reason why it suits that evidence.

Final checkpoint

Lesson 4 quiz