Denture Marking Revisited

Denture marking is accepted as a means of identifying dentures and persons in geriatric institutions or post mortem during massive calamities. Marking dentures has been considered as an important part of forensic dentistry. It is an arduous task to identify an edentulous individual who was involved in disaster, unless his dentures were uniquely marked. Identification is essential requirement of any medicolegal investigation because a wrong identity may pose a problem in delivering justice. 1 A number of labeling systems are available but majority of the methods are expensive, time consuming, and may not be suitable for all dental practitioners to use. The labeling systems can be broadly separated into either surface marking methods or inclusion systems. The value of labeling dentures is immense when a positive identity of an individual is required. This article describes briefly the various methods of denture labelling and a procedure for denture recognition.