Improving traditional dental autopsies in postmortem examinations of intraoral gunshot wounds

Despite the recent advances in the post-mortem forensic examinations, some medico-legal institutes are limited in accessing improved technological facilities, hampering an optimal autopsy. Specifically in developing countries, high-cost imaging devices are not afforded, making necessary the development of alternative autopsy techniques. In parallel, in dental autopsies muscle stiffness is often observed lacking mouth opening. This situation is specifically worse in cases of intraoral firearm injuries, in which detailed description of the detected wounds must be reported post-mortem. Based on this context, the present study aims to illustrate two cases of intraoral firearm injuries, in which the dental autopsies were performed considering a conservative and alternative technique for the improvement of mouth opening. Both cases provided optimal results, indicating the new approach as a valuable tool for dental autopsies.