See pp. 173-176 for the National Research Council’s evaluation of forensic odontology. The report finds “there is continuing dispute over the value and scientific validity of comparing and identifying bite marks.” p. 173. The report lists the following concerns:
- “Bite marks on the skin will change over time”;
- Bite marks “can be distorted by the elasticity of the skin, the unevenness of the surface bite, and swelling and healing”;
- “Distortions in photographs and changes over time in the dentition of suspects, may limit the accuracy of the results”;
- “Different experts provide widely differing results and a high percentage of false positive matches of bite marks using controlled comparison studies”;
- and concerns about a lack of supporting research, a lack of a central repository of bite marks and patterns, and the potential for examiner bias.