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m
Bite marks are especially valuable in child abuse cases because abusive
parents often claim a young sibling made the teeth marks.
the deceased's teeth atop X-
rays of suspected victims. If
it's the same person, the
result appears to be just one
set of teeth, Dr. Warnick
says.
Bone formation, pulp
chambers and sinus patterns
also help in identification.
If a family has no dental
records, Dr. Warnick re-
quests a photo. Pictures of
the mouth are then enlarg-
ed, with each tooth appear-
ing about 10 inches big. Dr.
Warnick can then compare a
certain groove on one of the
teeth to the teeth of the
deceased.
The key in all these tests is
accuracy. "When we go in
for an identification, there's
no question about it. We're
sure that's the person," he
says. "If there's even one
miniscule inconsistency, we
go in and look again."
While the work is often
difficult — especially when
Dr. Warnick must view
mangled corpses that bear
no resemblance to a human
being — it is rewarding, he
says. Identification means
the family can be certain of
the fate of a loved one and
bury his remains.
"I think it's my Jewish
background," Dr. Warnick
says. "It really makes me
want to help these families."
Dr. Warnick is called in on
every mass disaster in the
state, usually leading a team
of eight dentists, all of whom
have some forensic
background. He also travels
throughout the country,
helping set up teams to work
on plane crashes and other
emergencies.
Another aspect of Dr.
Warnick's work is identify-
ing bite marks for the Mich-
igan State Police. The Bun-
dy case is the most famous in
which bite marks were used
to convict a suspect, but it
was hardly the first.
In 1954, a man walked into
a convenience store in
Texas. He locked the clerks
in a closet, then opened the
cash register and removed a
wad of bills. Next, he helped
himself to a piece of cheese.
He took a bite of one slice,
leaving the remains on the
counter. A forensic dentist
was able to match the im-
prints left on the cheese with
the thief's teeth. The man
was convicted.
Dr. Warnick has worked
on many such cases.
He picks up a photograph
of hands covered with what
appear to be ordinary scrat-
ches. He leans back in his
chair.
"You see this?" he says,
pointing to the scratches.
"Bite marks." They were
While much of the
body may be
destroyed in a fire
or crash, it's likely
at least some of the
teeth will survive.
Teeth, Dr. Warnick
says, "are forever."
made when the murderer,
while cutting a man's
throat, accidentally ran his
hand across the victim's
teeth. The evidence was
later used to convict him.
Matching bite marks to
teeth is a science. Because
both perpetrator and victim
are generally moving, bite
marks rarely appear as a
clean set of top and bottom
prints.
Another case in which Dr.
Warnick worked with the
police involved a skull used
in satanic worship. The skull
was thought to be that of a
certain young woman — a
fact Dr. Warnick was even-
tually able to prove from
dental records.
In his work, Dr. Warnick
uses a scanning electron
microscope, which rotates to
different angles and can pro-