Forensic Odontology is the application of dental science in the aid of legal investigations. This mainly involves the identification of an assailant by comparing a record of their teeth to a record of a bite mark left on a victim or at a crime scene. Another main use in law for dentistry is in the identification of human remains.

Identification by dental records is not a new technique, as it actually goes back to around 66 A.D. The method has also been used during wars, when war casualties were identified by their bridgework. Teeth are extremely resistant to decomposition and destruction, so dental identification can always be made in extreme cases. All dental records are based on a universal numbering system, containing vast amounts of information. Some information noted are fillings, extractions, surface structure, root configuration, adjacent teeth, and twisted or tilted teeth.

Whereas dental identification goes back a long way, Bite Mark Comparison is fairly new, going back to the mid-1970s. It has always been noticed that criminals have sometimes left behind their bite impressions on food, chewing gum, or, more commonly, the victims themselves. There are seven types of bite marks; Haemorrhage (small bleeding spot), Abrasion (undamaging mark on skin), Contusion (ruptured blood vessel, bruising), Laceration (punctured or torn skin), Incision (neat puncture of skin), Avulsion (removal of skin), Artifact (bitten off piece of body). Contusions are the most common type of bite mark.

If a bite impression is found at a crime scene, there are several steps that should be taken. The first step would be to take photographs of the impression before anything else. Then a saliva sample may be collected from the bite mark, before casts and molds are taken of it. If another bite impression is available, perhaps from a suspect or another crime scene, the two molds can be compared by a specialist.