Importance and Maintenance of Dental Records - Are Dentists Aware? A Survey Among Private Dental Practitioners

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.sidebar##

Published Jul 25, 2022
https://doi.org/10.18311/jfds/12/3/2020.608
Download
pdf
Statistic

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...
Volume 12, Issue 3, September - December 2020

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.main##

Anoli Agrawal
Post-Graduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule − 424001, Maharashtra
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1045-1377
V.K. Prashanth
Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule − 424001, Maharashtra
Arun Dodamani
Professor and Head of Department, Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College Dhule
Shruti Pundkar
Postgraduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule − 424001, Maharashtra
Prachi Ray
Postgraduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule − 424001, Maharashtra
Asmita Hamand
Postgraduate Student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule − 424001, Maharashtra

Abstract

Introduction: Forensic expertise, including dental identification and expertise in civil litigation cases related to dental malpractice and injuries mostly count on dental records. Comparison of dental data obtained from the deceased person with dental data obtained by the dentist from the person’s file is a primary method of identification through dental evidence. Material and Methodology: In all, 180 dentists participated in an online survey. Questions covered general information on dentists, maintenance of dental records, and knowledge of legal requirements and forensic odontology. Results: 66.6% of dentists said that they update patient's data on every visit. 86.6% of dentists were aware of the use of Dental records in Forensic Odontology. 89.9% of dentists were not aware of how they should present the data when asked by the legal authority whereas only 10.1% of Dentists were aware of how they are supposed to provide the data. The percentage of dentists who knew how long are they legally mandated to keep patient records showed a significant difference (p<0.05) between Bachelors of Dental Surgery (BDS) and Masters of Dental Surgery (MDS) practitioners. Conclusion: Dentists being aware of forensic odontology, still lack the information about the legal aspects of it. Forensic odontology should be included in the curriculum as a separate subject to improve knowledge at the grassroots level. The focus should also be improved towards raising the awareness among private practitioners regarding the practical aspect of forensic odontology.

##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite
Agrawal, A. ., Prashanth, V. ., Dodamani, A. ., Pundkar, S. ., Ray, P., & Hamand, A. (2022). Importance and Maintenance of Dental Records - Are Dentists Aware? A Survey Among Private Dental Practitioners. Journal of Forensic Dental Sciences, 12(3), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.18311/jfds/12/3/2020.608
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

  1. Puerini SJ. Forensic odontology and the postmortem identification process. Med. Health R.I. 2005; 88:308-309.
  2. Al-Azri AR, Harford J, James H. Awareness of forensic odontology among dentists in Australia: Are they keeping forensically valuable dental records? Aust. Dent. J. 2015; 61:102-108. https://doi.org/10.1111/adj.12316. PMid:25823701. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/adj.12316
  3. Brki’c H, Lessig R, da Silva RHA, Pinchi V, Thevissen P (Eds). Textbook of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology by IOFOS, Naklada Slap: Jastrebarsko, Croatia; 2021. p. 412.
  4. Bernardi S, Bianchi S, Continenza MA, Pinchi V, Macchiarelli G. Morphological study of the labial grooves’ pattern in an Italian population. Aust. J. Forensic Sci. 2018; 52:490-499. https://doi.org/10.1080/00450618.2018.15411 92.
  5. Chowdhry A, Kapoor P. Cheiloscopy, Rugoscopy. In: Textbook of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology by IOFOS; Brki’c, H., Lessig, R., da Silva, R.H.A., Pinchi, V., Thevissen, P., Eds.; Naklada Slap: Jastrebarsko, Croatia; 2021. p. 235248.
  6. Hinchliffe J. Forensic odontology, part 1. Dental identification. Br. Dent. J. 2011; 210:219-224. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.146. PMid:21394152. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2011.146
  7. Avon S. Forensic odontology: The roles and responsibilities of the dentist. J. Can. Dent. Assoc. 2004; 70:453-458.
  8. Berketa JW, James H, Lake AW. Forensic odontology involvement in disaster victim identification. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2012; 8:148-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-011-9279-9. PMid:21952930. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-011-9279-9
  9. Dental Board of Australia. Guidelines on Dental Records; 2010.
  10. Rahman J, Routray S, Mishra SS, Mohanty I, Mohanty N, Sukla N. Knowledge, awareness, and practise of forensic odontology among dental surgeons in Bhubaneswar, India. Journal of Unexplored Medical Data. 2017 May 21; 2:2633. https://doi.org/10.20517/2572-8180.2017.01. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20517/2572-8180.2017.01
  11. Harchandani N, Marathe S, Hebbale M, UlNisa S, Hiremutt D. Awareness of forensic odontology among general dental practitioners in Pune A cross-sectional study. J. Adv. Med. Dent. Sci. Res. 2014 Jul; 2(3):10-16.
  12. Thampan N, Janani R, Ramya R, Bharanidharan R, Kumar A, Rajkumar K. Antemortem dental records versus individual identification. J. Forensic Dent. Sci. 2018; 10:158-163. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfo.jfds_13_18. PMid:31143065 PMCid:PMC6528534. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/jfo.jfds_13_18
  13. Brown NL, El Jephcote V, Morrison JN, Sutton JE. Inaccurate dental charting in an audit of 1128 general dental practice records. Dent. Update. 2017; 44:254-260 https://doi.org/10.12968/denu.2017.44.3.254. PMid:29172337. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/denu.2017.44.3.254
  14. Sarode GS, Sarode SC, Choudhary S, Patil S, Anand R, Vyas H. Dental records of forensic odontological importance: Maintenance pattern among dental practitioners of Pune city. J. Forensic Dent. Sci. 2017; 9:48.
  15. Pinchi V. Education and Qualification in Forensic Odontology. In: Textbook of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology by IOFOS; Brki’c, H., Lessig, R., da Silva, R.H.A., Pinchi, V., Thevissen, P., Eds.; Naklada Slap: Jastrebarsko, Croatia; 2021. p. 387-406.