Prevalence of traumatic orofacial and dental injury in unidentified bodies—Data from a forensic medicine institute in Brazil

Background/Aim Orofacial trauma and traumatic dental injuries (TDI) are serious public health problems due to their high prevalence, severe morbidity, high costs of treatment, and long‐term sequelae. However, the extent of the problem may be underestimated since trauma analysis, from a forensic odontology perspective, is not widely represented in the scientific literature. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of traumatic orofacial injuries (TOI) and TDI in unidentified bodies and their association with the cause of death. Materials and methods A retrospective analysis was conducted of dental and autopsy reports of unidentified bodies admitted to the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Belo Horizonte (IFM‐BH), Brazil, between 2015 and 2016. The final sample was made up of 536 bodies. Demographic data, the location where the body was found, cause of death, and the presence and type of orofacial trauma were collected. Results The mean of the estimated age of the bodies was 38 years and the median was 35 years. Most of the bodies were from males (87.5%) and were found downtown in the city of Belo Horizonte (60.4%). Violence was the most common cause of death (64%), generally by gunshot (48.7%). Bodies with an estimated age ≤35 years were eight times more likely to have died from violent causes. TOI was registered in 50.9% of the reports. TDI was observed in 10.8% of the bodies. Victims of violent death were seven times more likely to present TOI. Such association was not observed when the presence of TDI was considered. Conclusions There is a positive association between TOI and violent death in unidentified bodies.