Forensic Dentistry

The speaker for our April meeting was forensic odontologist Doctor John Robson. John began his professional career in general dental practice, later specialising in orthodontics. Having obtained a Forensic Odontology diploma, he acted as consultant for a funeral company specialising in disaster management. He now works for police, coroners, lawyers and other agencies. John has recently returned from Ethiopia where he had been working on the Boeing 737 Max 8 air crash. Over recent years, his work has taken him to some of the world’s most significant disasters including the 2001 – 9/11 attack on the Pentagon Building in Virginia USA, the Indian Ocean Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, the M5 crash near Taunton in November 2007, the Malaysian airways MH17 shot down in 2014 over Ukraine, the Shoreham Air Show plane crash in 2015 and more recently the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017. John spoke of the various methods used to identify the victims of these disasters, including dental records, tattoos, records of medical implants and physical deformities, fingerprints and use of DNA matching. John is a qualified pilot and enjoys his leisure time flying a Cessna aircraft and he also plays keyboards for The Grey Dogs Jazz Band.