Orohanditest: A new method for orofacial damage assessment

BACKGROUND: Currently, orofacial sequelae are recognized as very influential on the quality-of-life for a victim of orofacial damage. Therefore, correct forensic assessment for indenisation purposes is mandatory. However, orofacial damage is frequently reduced to organic components, which results in a forensic assessment process, which are inadequate. This study aims to improve the orofacial damage assessment through the development of an auxiliary tool, the orohanditest. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A preliminary inventory was constructed, using relevant bibliographic elements and retrospective study of forensic examinations reports concerning orofacial trauma. This inventory was then utilized in the assessment of 265 orofacial trauma victims for validation. Validity was studied by analyzing the internal construct validity (exploring factorial validity and assessing internal consistency) and the external construct validity (assessing convergent validity and discriminant validity). The level of significance was defined as P < 0.05. RESULTS: The final inventory (orohanditest) was comprised of the three components of body (8 items), functions (10 items) and situations (24 items), which were found to be statistically reliable and valid for assessment. The final score (orofacial damage coefficient) reflects the orofacial damage severity. CONCLUSION: Orohanditest provides a reliable, precise, and complete orofacial damage description and quantification. Therefore, this method can be useful as an auxiliary tool in the orofacial damage assessment process.