Publicación: Identificación humana por métodos odontológicos : método del dr. Ubaldo Carrea para la determinación de la talla
Fecha
2022-07-15
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Universidad Católica de La Plata. Facultade de Derecho y Ciencia Política
Resumen
La identificación humana es uno de los grandes temas de la odontología y de la medicina legal; últimamente, se han propuesto varios métodos para la estimación de la estatura. Los más destacados son, en la actualidad, la reconstrucción anatómica y la ecuación de regresión con base en los huesos largos. El primero es preferible porque tiene en cuenta la altura total del esqueleto y, por lo tanto, proporciona estimaciones más precisas; su principal inconveniente se presenta en catástrofes aéreas, por ejemplo, o a la intemperie, donde los elementos y los animales dispersan los restos, pues justamente depende de obtener todos los huesos largos para su posterior cálculo estimativo (Vercellotti et al., 2009). El otro método se trata de una relación métrica de la longitud del hueso respecto a la longitud total del cuerpo. En la mayoría de los casos, estas ecuaciones son aplicadas a poblaciones étnicas homogéneas para que funcionen adecuadamente, por tanto, las distintas poblaciones requieren ecuaciones diferentes, debido a que poseen distintas proporciones corporales. Por lo antes descripto, ambos métodos, quizá los más confiables para estimar la estatura, son exclusivos cuando los restos óseos recolectados conservan entre ellos los huesos largos, pero muy a menudo esto no sucede.Frente a este escenario, la odontología forense emerge como la disciplina adecuada, dentro de la odontología legal, para dar respuesta a algunas de estas situaciones, porque aporta métodos que requieren menos elementos óseos para dar luz a los hechos. Aquí es muy importante la recolección y preservación de restos óseos de cabeza y cuello; es relevante utilizar los elementos dentales disponibles, ya que el tejido dental puede resistir condiciones extremas de degradación, como la exposición a altas temperaturas, la humedad y la presión excesiva. Sumado a ello, el Dr. Ubaldo Carrea elaboró un método matemático que permite calcular la estatura del sujeto a partir de las dimensiones dentales (Carrea, 1920; Carrea, 1939).
Human identification is one of the major topics in dentistry and forensic medicine, and several methods have recently been proposed for the estimation of height. The most prominent are currently the anatomical reconstruction and the regression equation based on long bones. The first is preferable because it takes into account the total height of the skeleton and therefore provides more accurate estimates; its main drawback occurs in air disasters, for example, or in the open, where the elements and animals disperse the remains, because it depends on obtaining all the long bones for subsequent estimation (Vercellotti et al., 2009). The other method is a metric ratio of bone length to total body length. In most cases, these equations are applied to homogeneous ethnic populations in order to work properly, therefore, different populations require different equations because they have different body proportions. For the reasons described above, both methods, perhaps the most reliable for estimating stature, are exclusive when the bone remains collected preserve the long bones among them, but very often this is not the case. Faced with this scenario, forensic odontology emerges as the appropriate discipline within legal odontology to respond to some of these situations, providing methods that require fewer bone elements to shed light on the facts. Here, the collection and preservation of bone remains from the head and neck is very important; using the available dental elements is relevant, since dental tissue can resist extreme conditions of degradation, such as exposure to high temperatures, humidity and excessive pressure. This adds up to the fact that Dr. Ubaldo Carrea elaborated a mathematical method that allows to calculate the height of the subject based on the dental dimensions (Carrea, 1920; Carrea, 1939).
Human identification is one of the major topics in dentistry and forensic medicine, and several methods have recently been proposed for the estimation of height. The most prominent are currently the anatomical reconstruction and the regression equation based on long bones. The first is preferable because it takes into account the total height of the skeleton and therefore provides more accurate estimates; its main drawback occurs in air disasters, for example, or in the open, where the elements and animals disperse the remains, because it depends on obtaining all the long bones for subsequent estimation (Vercellotti et al., 2009). The other method is a metric ratio of bone length to total body length. In most cases, these equations are applied to homogeneous ethnic populations in order to work properly, therefore, different populations require different equations because they have different body proportions. For the reasons described above, both methods, perhaps the most reliable for estimating stature, are exclusive when the bone remains collected preserve the long bones among them, but very often this is not the case. Faced with this scenario, forensic odontology emerges as the appropriate discipline within legal odontology to respond to some of these situations, providing methods that require fewer bone elements to shed light on the facts. Here, the collection and preservation of bone remains from the head and neck is very important; using the available dental elements is relevant, since dental tissue can resist extreme conditions of degradation, such as exposure to high temperatures, humidity and excessive pressure. This adds up to the fact that Dr. Ubaldo Carrea elaborated a mathematical method that allows to calculate the height of the subject based on the dental dimensions (Carrea, 1920; Carrea, 1939).
Descripción
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ODONTOLOGÍA LEGAL, IDENTIFICACIÓN HUMANA, DETERMINACIÓN DE TALLA, FORENSIC ODONTOLOGYC, HUMAN IDENTIFICATION, SIZE DETERMINATION
