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| Author(s): |
Liza Lima Ramenzoni
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Piracicaba, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba |
| Defense date: | 2006-02-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Sergio Roberto Peres Line;
Luan Ling Lee;
Pedro Duarte Novaes
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| Advisor: | Sergio Roberto Peres Line |
| Abstract | |
Dental enamel is characterized by layers of prisms with regularly alternating directions. These successive layers form Hunter-Schreger Bands (HSB) that appear as dark and light bands when viewed under strong illumination. In the present study, we evaluate the HSB singularity in human teeth as a biometric-based method for personal identification since differences in HSB patterns have never been studied. The sample was composed of 274 lower incisors. The following procedures were performed: the teeth were photographed at low magnification, the contrast of the captured images was increased using Corel Photo Paint 9® and then analyzed in automated biometrics-based identification software (Verifinger Demo 4.2 SDK / Fingersec®). The software generated a list of biometric data comparisons with a similarity measure (minutiae matching). The storage of database comparisons could be represented with a similarity matrix. We also analyzed the thickness of the bands since this parameter is very variable and could be used for the identification. The results demonstrated that the pattern of HSB is highly variable and unique for each tooth. HSB bands could not be observed in 4.5 % of the teeth examined. Teeth without HSB could not be included in the database. Teeth having 0 or 1 minutiae comprised 3.3% of our sample. In these cases, the inspection was simply done by visual comparison. Thus, the biometric measurements of HSB proved to be a valuable method for personal identification, since enamel can resist extreme environmental conditions and the images could be easily obtained. These characteristics make HSB a potentially useful model for personal physical or biological measurements to give a correct description of an individual (AU) | |