History and overview of women as Forensic Odontologists in the Brazilian Criminal System

Abstract

Forensic Dentistry is a dental specialty, historically marked by many “fathers”, but few information about women in this context. The female insertion in the labor market still suffers from historical barriers, and the objective of this research was to identify the participation of the first women as Forensic Odontologists in the Brazilian Criminal Expert Services, and carry out an overview of the current number of professionals in this position and its proportion between the sexes. Data were collected on the first Forensic Odontologist in each state and the currently active professionals through the records from the Scientific Polices, Civil Polices, and Brazilian Transparency Databases for descriptive statistics. The first women as Forensic Odontologists in Brazil were from the states of Paraíba, Maranhão, and Pará (1981, 1982, and 1985, respectively). According to the Brazilian Federal Council of Dentistry, 59.69% of Specialists in Forensic Dentistry are women and in the states where data collection was possible, 57.89% of Official Forensic Odontologists are women. Despite being the majority, it is still necessary to standardize the nomenclature and create new official positions to strengthen the Forensic Odontologist profession, and encourage greater female participation. It is concluded that in 1981 there was the first Forensic Odontologist female in Brazil in the state of Paraíba and that today there is a better balance in the proportion of men and women in this position.