Forensic Pathologists trust bitemark pattern injury analysis, and want to use it at their discretion, even if its use becomes passé in identifying the perpetrator. The word is out that they think eradication of bitemarks is the pendulum swinging too far in the opposite direction.

I can understand this. Their thinking is if you can tell from a bitemark in skin that the person, the biter, was missing a tooth, then you have assisted the cause of criminal justice. But, it confuses me.

To date, it is not common practice to “age” a contusion in skin, in order to establish post mortem interval. It’s not common practice to measure the depth of a sharp force injury in flesh, be it a stab wound or incised wound made with a knife. I still think determining the directionality of a knife wound across the neck is not feasible scientifically, either.

However, I…