Journal of the American Dental Association Publishes Editorial Discussing Unsubstantiated “Science” of Bitemark Evidence

By Dr. David Averill, and Dr. Michael Bowers

Dr. Mary Bush has authored a guest editorial in the September 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. She states that bitemark analysis is not validated, yet has been accepted into the courts without substantiating empirical evidence. According to Bush, this has placed innocent individuals accused of crimes at serious risk. This also has undermined the credibility of the criminal justice system. Dr. Bush is one of a team of researchers at the University of Buffalo who have recently published a series of research papers, which show that bitemarks in skin do not reflect the actual dental characteristics of the biter in controlled experiments due to the properties of skin distortion.

Bitemark Experts Convene for National Meeting

American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Meeting

Bitemark experts from North America will gather this week in Chicago for their annual scientific meeting. The highlight of the week will be the presentation on Thursday by a research team from the University of Buffalo. The research team has published a number of scientific articles that oppose what many of the bitemark experts have testified in their past cases concerning bitemarks.

There will be a palpable trepidation among many of the bitemark experts as the guest scientists from the University of Buffalo deliver their talk. The presentation will likely be about the lack of scientific studies on skin distortion and the unresolved issue of dental uniqueness. The Buffalo team consists of Peter Bush, Mary Bush, David Sheets and Ray Miller who have published numerous articles in the scientific forensic journals. I will post more on their presentation later.