The Initial Stage of Identification of a Person by Dental Status in Russia. Tools Proposed by G.I. Vilga

Resume.Relevance. In 2023, 120 years have passed since the first domestic, scientifically based work on forensic dentistry appeared in Russia. This work was a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine G. I. Vilga "On teeth in forensic medicine". With the release of this work, the century of forensic dentistry in Russia began its countdown. G. I. Vilga gave the main directions of the future formation of forensic dentistry: identification of personality, dental injuries and improper dental care. Forensic identification of a person is based on obtaining objective information about the signs and biological properties of an unidentified object and comparing them with materials displaying similar signs of the wanted person. The theoretical basis of forensic identification of a person is forensic medicine and anthropology. In world practice, identification studies to establish the identity of a particular person are based mainly on the study of the odontological status as a source of significant information to establish a person's age, gender and race, identify individual characteristics and establish identity. Forensic dentistry is one of the new branches of forensic medicine, has its own specific features and requires knowledge beyond the scope of forensic medical education.The purpose of the study. To study the tools proposed by G.I. Vilga for identification of a person by dental status.Materials and methods. The research material is based on literary sources related to personality identification, anthropology and dentistry. The analysis of the literary material is carried out. The results of the study. The presented work provides information about the initial stage of identification of a person, about the use of tools necessary to solve this problem. Conclusion. Many provisions of G.I. Vilga's doctoral dissertation "On teeth in forensic medicine" have not lost their relevance today. All of the above allows us to say that the formation of personal identification by dental status in Russia is directly related to the work of G. I. Vilga.