• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

What's in my teeth?

mikelegs

mikelegs

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 31, 2001
Messages
361
I'm in the process of reading a good book about forensic science used for solving crimes. In the section on odontology, it mentioned that US dentists, sometime in the mid 80s (86?), started putting a tiny plate on every individual's teeth. All it really said was that the plate contained 12 characters containing useful information about the individual. Does anyone have any more information about this? I was pretty shocked when I read this tidbit. Is it in my teeth, too? What are the chances?

PS. I'll try to remember to bring the book in - in case anyone wants to reference it. Thanks.
 
Originally posted by mike_legs
I' In the section on odontology, it mentioned that US dentists, sometime in the mid 80s (86?), started putting a tiny plate on every individual's teeth. [/QUOTE

In the early 1970's, I worked at at a "long stay" hospital in the UK, where the dental technicians did the same sort of thing!!!

Just a name typed on paper, in a type writer & cut out & embedded in the resin of the plate.....

A simple thing that saved us time, when some b***er couldn't sort out their teeth from the rest.

OR! We found a nameless body, under the hedgerow come spring!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Ok, here is where my question comes from. The book is called 'The Casebook Of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 Of The World's Most Baffling Crimes' Author - Colin Evans. I have the 1996 edition. On page 142 it says:

In 1986, the American Dental Association began a program that may make teeth even more useful for identification purposes, whereby dentists bond a coded microdisk, barely larger than a pinhead, on an upper molar. Contained within its twelve-digit code are details of that person's identity, which can be read and matched by a computer. The intention is for every U.S. citizen to be dentally encoded early in life for later identification if necessary.

My cause for concern is that they've been doing this without permission of subject or subject's parents - and that possibly I possess this microdisk, without even knowing it. Any dentists out there?
 
Sounds a bit "Brave new world", what next, bar codes tattooed on the scalp at birth?
 
p.younger said:
Sounds a bit "Brave new world", what next, bar codes tattooed on the scalp at birth?
Click to expand...

Hope not, mine would be shining through by now!! :D
 
I'm going to do some follow up on this with my dentist friends mike because I have NEVER heard of this! I worked in the med/dental field for a number of years so one would have thought I would be informed on this if it exists. Anyway, forensic detection has always involved dental RECORDS which shows all of a persons dental work, etc as a means of identifying them. I would think that if they had some kind of info plate in their teeth (started 20 yrs ago!) we wouldn't have so much trouble identifying corpses here.
Will check back after some calls....
 
There's nothing for it, Mike, if you truly want to be free you're going to have to yank them all out. :D

Interesting how this little titbit with potentially dynamite implications found its way into the book - does it contain any cases where this method was actually claimed to be used?

I don't buy it, but I await webfoot's enquiries with interest....
 
Contained within its twelve-digit code are details of that person's identity,
Click to expand...

Really? In 12 digits? Doesn't sound like there's room for much detail.

Also, I guess I could see this working somewhere where you accessed health care by quoting an NI number or equivalent, but aren't US dentists all private? What would they use, your credit card no.?
 
mike_legs said:
I'm in the process of reading a good book about forensic science used for solving crimes. In the section on odontology, it mentioned that US dentists, sometime in the mid 80s (86?), started putting a tiny plate on every individual's teeth. All it really said was that the plate contained 12 characters containing useful information about the individual. Thanks.
Click to expand...

What useful information, Mike?

I work for several dentists/orthodontists, I'll ask them if they've heard anything....
 
The 12 digits would probably just be an ID number that would link to personal data stored 'somewhere'.
 
Re: Dark Detective

Strangely, no cases in the book claimed to have used the microdisk as identification. This paragraph just sort of comes out of nowhere, and vague enough let one venture off far into conspiracy theory land.

Re: webfoot and David Raven

I anxiously await to read whatever information you gather.


Though the 12-digit code might well be an index to stored data, as Frobrush pointed out, I'd guess that it would me a much more simple classification system, with coded characters for sex, birthdate, race, etc.
 
Quote from Paul Merton

I’m always amazed to hear of air crash victims being identified by their dental records,
If they don’t know who you are, how do they know who your dentist is ?
 
Well first of all, when you are in a plane crash, there is a record of the passengers so all their dental records are obtained and compared to the dentition of the corpses (teeth usually survive trauma while soft tissue doesnt)
Alas Mike L., the two dentists I spoke to (at the University of Washington dental school) have never heard of any encoding practice so I think your author got a little carried away. However, both thought it sounded like a great idea as it would make identification so much easier! My only other thought on this is that perhaps the military could be using something like it to identify their personnel????
 
Much appreciated, webfoot. The only question that remains for me now is: where did the author get his information? Did the program get started and die in its infancy (after *some* people got the microdisk), or was it shot down before it even began? I'll poke around a bit and let you all know if I get any answers.
 
I have fillings now, but i didn't have any when i first tried this.

If I put my small computer microphone in my mouth, the speakers screech like feedback noise.

if i slightly vary the location of the microphone i can change the pitch.
 
According to the BBC pretty soon we'll be getting dental mobile phones:

'Royal College of Art students in London have developed a phone that fits inside a tooth.

The concept device picks up signals with a radio receiver and uses a tiny vibrating plate to convey them as sound along the jawbone to a person's ear.'
 
This could be the death of TV quiz shows.... :blah:
 
Could be the death of anyone using one if the fears about mobile radiation prove to be well founded.
 
I got a problem with this too. If it is bonded to a tooth then it isn't permanent - teeth come out

Permanence requires something bonded to the inside of the cranium and preferably 3 somethings. A good alternative would be to have something bonded to the bone on the inside of the eye socket or, of course, the frontal sinus the abductees favorite.

Has anyone had an eye test recently? the one where they have a machine to test for glaucoma? Who knows what that little puff of air on the front of the eye disguises????
 
Can we PLEASE stop talking about teeth?

I've got to go to the dentist on Tuesday, and I've got one broken tooth at the back and one distinctly wobbly directly opposite....!!
 
I went to the dentist last week for a filling, I've been having nightmares about Terry Wogan ever since.
 
My broken tooth (despite its temporary cap) has been giving me bursts of pain today so peculiar and exquisite that I almost begin to understand masochism.....
 
I have a birthmark under my hairline. It looks like three numbers although it is a bit hard to see. 999 or something....:eek!!!!:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top