{"id":4993,"date":"2014-06-23T21:43:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T02:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=4993"},"modified":"2014-06-23T21:43:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T02:43:25","slug":"morbid-fact-du-jour-for-june-23-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=4993","title":{"rendered":"Morbid Fact Du Jour for June 23, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Today&#8217;s Positively Identified Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the ways in which modern forensic science can positively identify an individual is through accurate dental records, since teeth not only differ in detail from person to person, but they last longer than other physical elements after death. \u00a0Although there are subtle changes as the subject ages, the overall pattern of the teeth changes so little that records compiled years before can still be accurate enough to provide positive identification. \u00a0Moreover, where natural teeth have been replaced by false teeth, the dentures are also a very useful form of record, and in the U.S. in particular they are often marked with both the wearer&#8217;s name and his or her social security number.<\/p>\n<p>One of the earliest cases of identification by teeth dates back to the mid-1770s. \u00a0Paul Revere, a coppersmith, silversmith, and engraver, had been taught dentistry by English practitioner John Baker. \u00a0In 1775 Revere made a set of dentures for his friend, Dr. Joseph Warren. \u00a0The teeth, held together with silver wire, were supported by a bridge made from the tusk of a hippopotamus. \u00a0In June of that year, at the battle of Bunker Hill where British forces stormed American entrenchments on a peninsula to the north of Boston, Warren was killed by a shot to the head. \u00a0Though hiss body was buried in a mass grave after the battle, his family wished it to be found and \u00a0brought back to England. \u00a0Revere was able to identify the body from the dental work and it was subsequently returned to be buried in the family plot at Forest Hill, south London.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4994\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joseph_warren.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4994\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4994\" src=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joseph_warren-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill&quot; by John Trumbull. \" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joseph_warren-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joseph_warren-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joseph_warren-620x414.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/joseph_warren.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill&#8221; by John Trumbull.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Culled from:\u00a0<a style=\"color: #bb0000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1552094839\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1552094839&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=theasylumeclecti\">Hidden Evidence: Forty True Crimes and How Forensic Science Helped Solve Them<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=theasylumeclecti&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1552094839\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s Positively Identified Yet Truly Morbid Fact! One of the ways in which modern forensic science can positively identify an individual is through accurate dental records, since teeth not only differ in detail from person to person, but they last longer than other physical elements after death. \u00a0Although there are subtle changes as the subject [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4993"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4999,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions\/4999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}