TRAINING OF FORENSIC DENTISTRY SPECIALISTS – A NEW STEP TO INCREASE OBJECTIVITY IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF MISSING PERSONS IN UKRAINE

The publication offers suggestions regarding the content of the educational program of training in forensic dentistry for doctors of forensic medical experts and maxillofacial surgeons in Ukraine. The aim of the study is to prepare the project of the forensic dentistry training program for forensic medical experts and maxillofacial surgeons with topics and modules as components. Material and methods. The research material was analogues and prototypes of educational topics and modules existing in domestic higher education institutions as components of the forensic dentistry training program for forensic medical experts and maxillofacial surgeons. Quantitative indicators were processed using standard methods of variational statistics. Scientific researches. "Expert evaluation of advanced dental treatment and rehabilitation technologies". State registration number: 0123U101509. Implementation dates: 2023-2027. Bioethics. Approved by the Bioethics Commission of UZHNU (protocol No. 14 dated 01/20/2025). Results. It is envisaged that the forensic dentistry training program will include the following modules and topics: aspects of legal support for dental services and forensic dental expertise in Ukraine; basic principles of X-ray studies in dentistry and their significance for dental identification; principles of data collection and initial registration for dental identification; approaches to categorization and processing of data that can be interpreted as significant for dental identification; quality standards and reliability criteria in forensic dental practice; NATO standard STANAG 2464 AMedP-3.1 "Military forensic dental identification" (Military forensic dental identification); organization of the dental identification process in conditions of mass disasters; determination of age by dental status; assessment of bite marks and injuries caused by the dental and jaw apparatus; processes of comparative and reconstructive identification of unknown and missing persons by dental status; principles of coding features of dental status as a result of physiological changes, pathological disorders, results of iatrogenic interventions; principles of filling and quality control of data registration using standardized forms; basics of working with software for manual, semi-automatic and automatic comparison of dental status data during comparative identification; basic fundamentals of Wirtdentopsia: cone-beam computed tomography intraoral scanning and other digital methods of dental status assessment; expert assessment of the consequences of trauma and damage to the maxillofacial area of ​​various mechanisms of occurrence. Conclusions. The offer of the educational training program contains a full amount of systematized theoretical knowledge and a sufficient amount of practical skills, the mastery of which is necessary for the high-quality training of forensic medical experts and maxillofacial surgeons in forensic dentistry.