Quantitative evaluation of DNA from the tooth pulp exposed to varying temperatures

Abstract

Context: During natural calamities like fire accidents, many times the human body gets charred beyond recognition. Tooth, being the hardest structure in the human body protects the pulp within from such accidents. Forensic identification through the pulpal DNA could be avery useful tool in such situations.Aim: This study was designed to evaluate the quantity of DNA obtained from the pulp when exposed to varying temperatures.Methods and Material: Extracted teeth were subjected to the following temperatures:-80°C,37°C,100°C, 200°C, 300°C, 500°C and 1000°C. Pulp from these teeth were retrieved by horizontally sectioning the teeth using a fine needle diamond point in a high speed air rotor, followed by extraction of DNA with the HipuraA™ Forensic Genomic DNA purification spink it. The samples were quantified using personal computer(PC) based double beam spectro photo meter. Kruskal Wallis test and Mann WhitneyU test were used for statistical analysis.Results: Statistically significant difference (p<0.005) was seen in the quantity of DNA obtained from pulp subjected to higher temperatures as compared to oral temperature. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the quantity of DNA obtained from teeth subjected to-80°CConclusions: Increase in temperature decreases the amount of DNA from the tooth pulp where as a decrease in temperature does not cause any change in the quantity of DNA.