INTERVIEW - PROF. PHD. PATRICK THEVISSEN

Resumo

I became a Dentist in 1980 when I finished the undergraduation in Dentistry at Rijksuniversiteit Gent, Belgium. Since that time I work in the private dental practice. I became a Forensic Dentist in 2005 after obtaining a Master of Science degree in Forensic Dentistry at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven), Belgium. Few years later I obtained the Doctoral degree in Biomedical Sciences in the same institution on the research topic: Dental age estimation in sub-adults: Striving for an optimal approach. Since 2007, I work in the Forensic Dentistry Unit at the Department of Oral Health Sciences at KULeuven and became head of the unit in 2014. Currently, I divide my time between the private dental practice and the academic activities. Specifically, I teach Forensic Dentistry to international students in the Master course of Forensic Odontology at the KULeuven. My main areas of research are related to dental age estimation (of unaccompanied minors) and to prove the uniqueness of the human dentition both in bitemarks and human identification fields. As forensic odontologist I also provide services mainly related to identification, age estimation and bite mark casework. 30 publications and 355 citations in several forensic journals with high impact factor, specially: Forensic Science International, International Journal of Legal Medicine, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Journal of Forensic Sciences, and Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/cv?u=U0056624. Editor of the Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology. Member of the International Editorial Board of the Brazilian Journal of Forensic Odontology (RBOL) Treasurer of the International Organization of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology (IOFOS), 2014-2017: http://www.iofos.eu/exec/executive_14-17.html.