I got into the subject by being my father’s ‘sidekick’ while I was at school. He was a consultant oral surgeon (nowadays known as maxillofacial surgeons), who was invited to give opinions on the facial injuries sustained by murder victims.
The first case I remember was in the early 1970s in, which a bite mark on the face of the victim had subsequently been divided by a knife-cut. Then, in 1976, a storm at sea delivered (eventually) the bodies of some yachtsmen who were identified by their dental records (transmitted by telex from Switzerland).
It also involved us in the controversy about ‘pink post-mortem staining of teeth’. That is a sign that is occasionally taken to indicate a violent cause of death and is also occasionally confused with the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. So we rubbed shoulders in the literature with the investigators of Reginald Christie at Rillington Place.
A dentist’s career often involves a few years of working in hospitals around the country as a resident in oral and maxillofacial surgery. I took this a little further by hanging on until I could apply for a post in my father’s own unit back home in Plymouth, where I continued the connection with the forensic practice. Eventually my father retired, but didn’t retire from the forensic practice which he eventually ‘handed over’ on his death in 1999.
Since then I have worked with the local police homicide teams, the Coroner in cases of identification, local paediatricians and the child abuse investigation units, detective teams investigating rape and increasingly with lawyers defending clients.
In 2005 I spent some time in Thailand with the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification Team. I retired from general practice in 2003, but keep my hand in by working as a volunteer with Mercy Ships, doing dental surgery in makeshift facilities in various countries in West Africa. That has developed into my acting as a ‘fixer’ for medical projects in India, and a projected one in Nepal next year.