Bite Mark Evidence - Evaluating Styrofoam and Wax Sheet as an Alternative Registration Media - Forensic odontology study

Sep 30, 2026

Forensic odontology supports personal identification in mass disasters, sexual violence, and child abuse by using dentist knowledge and skills; bitemarks at crime scenes can provide dental evidence. Maxillary and mandibular impressions from 50 male and female subjects were cast, then two test bite records were made using wax sheet and Styrofoam. Test overlays were prepared from dental casts and materials on day 1 and day 4 and evaluated with metric and nonmetric approaches under room temperature and 4°C conditions. Wax showed higher room-temperature correlation, while Styrofoam correlated better at 4°C, with improved fourth-day results. Wax and Styrofoam may serve as bite-registration media under special conditions such as trismus, bedridden, or mentally retarded subjects.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background and Objective

Materials and Methods

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Role of forensic odontology and bitemarks

Rationale for wax vs Styrofoam study

Materials and Methods

Study design and participants

Bite registration media and temperature conditions

Overlay generation and evaluation

Results

Original Article Bite Mark Evidence: Evaluating Styrofoam and Wax Sheet as an Alternative Registration Media Shipra Saxena1, Madhusudan Astekar2, Himanshu Upadhyay3, Debasree Boral4, Disha Naresh5 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Bareilly International University, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India, 3Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Implant and Maxillofacial Surgery Centre, Etah, Uttar Pradesh, India, 4Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Dr. R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, 5Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Institute of Dental Sciences, Bareilly International University, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Submitted: 22‑Jul‑2025 Revised: 27‑Jul‑2025 Accepted: 12‑Aug‑2025 Published: 17‑Dec‑2025 Abstract Background and Objective: Forensic odontology is a branch of forensic sciences that deals with personal identification during mass disasters, sexual violence, child abuse, etc., using the knowledge and skills of the dentist. Bitemarks are observed atthe crime scene such as in cases of sexual assault and can be used for identification purposes and play a very useful role in providing dental evidence against convicts. Materials and Methods: Maxillary and mandibular impressions of 50 males and female subjects were taken along with cast preparation. Furthermore, two sets of test bites were recorded with test materials, i.e., wax sheet and Styrofoam. First set was kept at room temperature, and second was kept at 4°C. The reference overlays were generated from dental cast and test materials on the first day and the fourth day. They were evaluated by both metric and nonmetric methods. Results: When the reference overlay was compared with test overlay, wax sheet showed a higher correlation coefficient at room temperature, whereas Styrofoam showed a higher correlation at 4°C. Based on time lapse, test overlays of Styrofoam showed a high correlation coefficient on fourth day as compared with overlays from wax sheet. Conclusion: The wax and Styrofoam can be used as bite registration media on special conditions such as trismus, bed ridden individual, and mentally retarded subjects. Keywords: Bite marks, comparative analysis, forensic odontology, identification, unique Introduction orensic odontology Fthat deals with the is the branch of dentistry collection and evaluation of the dental evidence and to help law enforcement in various civil and criminal legal procedures with respect to forensic odontology, dentistry plays a little but significant role in this process. Methods used in forensic odontology are rugoscopy, cheiloscopy, bite marks, tooth prints, radiographs, photographic study, and molecular methods. [1‑3] Extractions, malalignment, malformation, injury, and dental restorations all | Access this article online | | | --- | --- | | Quick Response Code:
| Website: [https://journals.lww.com/jpbs](https://journals.lww.com/jpbs) | | | DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_1266_25 | contribute to the uniqueness of a bitemark. [4] Bitemarks are found in a significant number of child abuse victims. Hence, this study is conducted to determine changes of bitemark obtained on wax sheet and Styrofoam based on time lapse and temperature change. [4‑6] Address for correspondence: Dr. Shipra Saxena, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. E‑mail: [shipra1802@gmail.com](shipra1802@gmail.com) This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used comme

FAQs

Why are bitemarks important in forensic odontology?

Bitemarks can be observed at crime scenes in cases such as sexual assault and may be used for identification, providing dental evidence in legal procedures.

How were wax sheet and Styrofoam evaluated in the study?

Maxillary and mandibular casts were prepared, and test bites were recorded using wax sheet and Styrofoam. Reference and test overlays were generated on day 1 and day 4 and evaluated using metric and nonmetric methods.

Which material performed better at room temperature versus 4°C?

Wax sheet showed a higher correlation coefficient at room temperature, while Styrofoam showed a higher correlation at 4°C, with Styrofoam improving on the fourth day compared with wax.

Sep 30, 2026

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