Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

Near infrared spectroscopy in the characterisation of intact human teeth inside and outside custody bags

NE Pretorius; PP Subedi; A Forrest; M Tenant; KB Walsh

Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy · 2021

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Summary

This laboratory study applies Fourier-transform near infrared spectroscopy to the characterisation of intact human teeth for forensic purposes. The authors demonstrate that FT-NIR can distinguish between individual sound teeth through principal component analysis and show that whilst custody bag windows introduce measurable spectral artefacts, these can be effectively corrected through spectral subtraction, enabling reliable tooth analysis in forensic contexts. The work contributes to the analytical toolkit available for forensic tooth identification and examination.

UK applicability

The findings are potentially applicable to UK forensic pathology and dental identification practices, particularly where near infrared spectroscopy might be deployed as a non-destructive analytical method for tooth characterisation in legal or investigative contexts.

Key measures

Principal component analysis of FT-NIR spectral data; spectral artefact correction through spectral subtraction; discrimination between individual teeth

Outcomes reported

The study evaluated whether Fourier-transform near infrared spectroscopy could distinguish between individual intact human teeth and assess whether spectral artefacts introduced by forensic custody bags could be corrected through spectral subtraction methods.

Theme
Measurement & metrics
Subject
Measurement methods & nutrient profiling
Study type
Research
Study design
Laboratory experimental study
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
System type
Laboratory / in vitro
DOI
10.1177/0967033520980863
Catalogue ID
NRmobghq9c-008

Topic tags

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