9/11 - WTC/Pentagon/Shanksville m.m - Tråd Nr 2

A comprehensive dental team was formed (for the Pentagon investigation) with expanded capabilities in digital imaging and comparative analysis, said Navy Capt. Glenn Wagner, AFIP director. “The medical radiographic section included full-time, fully-trained radiologists assisting dentists, anthropologists and pathologists in the identification and characterization of all specimens received. Where appropriate, both toxicology and DNA specimens were obtained in each case.”

“Without hesitation, I strongly believe the high number of positive identifications produced in a timely manner resulted because of dedicated staff and computer enhancement,” said Dr. Douglas Arendt, chief of forensic dentistry for AFIP’s department of oral and maxillofacial pathology.

The identification process involves four stages:
Recovery of the body, during which visually identifiable victims have their personal effects inventoried by New York City police;

Moving the body to the medical examiner’s station where it will receive a preliminary autopsy and be photographed for identification purposes from notified kin;

If the victim cannot be identified by paper identification such as a driver’s license or cannot be identified visually, the body is sent to the dental examiner’s station, where the process of forensic dental identification will begin;