法科学講座 法歯学・災害口腔医学分野

• 講座概要
• 教授挨拶
• スタッフ
• 主な研究
• 主な業績

講座概要

法歯学とは、主として身元不明の死体や、国籍や戸籍不明の生体が誰であるかという個人の識別をしたり、歯学に関連した医事紛争や各種の裁判上の問題を、歯学、医学または自然科学の知識をもって解決したりするための学問です。

災害口腔医学とは、大規模災害発生時の歯科医師の役割を追求し、その責務を有事の際に確実に実践するための学問です。

いずれも、公衆衛生、社会福祉そして人権保護に貢献することを目的としています。

教授挨拶

ヒトの自然科学的側面から男女の別や加齢性変化等について研究し、それらの知識から、主に警察や海上保安庁からの委託により、身元不詳者の科学的・客観的根拠に基づく歯科的個人識別を行います。

また、近年特殊な犯罪が横行する中で見られる咬傷の、被疑者特定のための分析方法を研究しています。

社会活動として、東日本大震災での経験を活かし、大規模災害での歯科医師の役割を明示させ、多くの臨床医が現場で適切かつ正確に活動できるように啓発し続けています。

講座スタッフ

教授

熊谷　章子

くまがい　あきこ

講座における主たる研究テーマ

• 歯の成長発育を観察した小児年齢推定
• 歯や顎骨の加齢変化を観察した成人年齢推定
• ヒト硬組織の安定同位体比測定による生前居住地推定
• ヒト顔貌形態の分類像の構築と個人識別における性別判定への応用
• 大規模災害犠牲者身元確認のための生前・死後記録および照合のDX化

講座の主な業績

【令和７（2025）年度】

1. Angelakopoulos, N.^*, Merdietio, Boedi, R.^*, Polukhin, N.^*, Zolotenkova, G.^*, Kumagai, A., Balla, S.B.^*: Exploring global demographics of professional in forensic odontology: a pilot study. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 21(4): 1730–1742 (2025)
2. Dury, S.^*, Kumagai, A., Pierre, P.^*: Adapting international forensic protocols to local needs: an interdisciplinary assessment of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Human Remains and Violence, 11(1): 63–87 (2025) 
3. Merdietio, Boedi, R.^*, Angelakopoulos, A.^*, Franco, A.^*, Polukhin, N.^*, Kumagai, A., Galic, I.^*, Kelmendi, J.^*, Vázquez, I.S.^*, Lee, S.S.^*, Scendoni, R.^*, Zolotenkova, G.^*, Luca, De, S.^*: Evaluation of Demirjian staging method reproducibility and reliability for dental age estimation between eight forensic experts. Int. J. Leg. Med. 139: 2883–2890 (2025)
4. Oh, S.^*, Park, J.^*, Roh, B.Y.^*, Kumagai, A., Lee, S.S.^*: Development and validation of an age estimation model based on dental characteristics using panoramic radiographs. Scientific reports. 15: 35124 (2025)
5. Kumagai, A., Duly, S.^*: Measures for constructing virtual disaster training based on social issues surrounding death. Res. Pract. Forens. Med. 68: 179–184 (2025)

【令和６（2024）年度】

1. Lee, S.S.*, Kumagai, A.: Comparison of the accuracy and bias of Demirjian’s method for East Asian children and development of Japanese population-specific age estimation formulae. Leg. Med. 71: 102529 (2024)
2. Biwasaka, H. *, Usui, A. *, Takamiya, M., Angelakopoulos, N. *, Cameriere, R. , Kumagai, A.: Validation of morphological ear classification devised by principal component analysis using three-dimensional images for human identification. PLOS ONE. 19 (10): e0306843 (2024)
3. Kumagai, A., Oishi, T., Sato, H., Sugiyama, Y., Sato, T., Cameriere, R.: Effects of long-term steroid therapy on the results of dental age estimation using pulp/tooth ratio. J. Forensic Odontostomatol. 42(3): 2–8 (2024)

【令和５（2023）年度】

1. Angelakopoulos, N., Franco, A., Sezgin, N., Cevik, Z.A., Canturk, N., Panciera, M.C., Pinto, P.H.V., Alves, da, Silva, R.H., Balla, S.B., Kumagai, A., Zolotenkova, G., Silveira, Sousa, A.M., Ferrante, L., Cameriere, R.: Ear identification: A multi-ethnic study sample. Molphologie. 107(359): 100602 (2023)
2. Cheong, H., Roh, B.Y., Kumagai, A., Oh, S., Lee, S.S.: Validation of London Atlas for forensic age estimation in Koreans by comparing with Lee’s and Willems’ methods. Heliyon 9: e19957 (2023)
3. Cheong, H., Kumagai, A., Oh, S., Lee, S.S.: Dental characteristics on panoramic radiographs as parameters for non-invasive age estimation: a pilot study. Anat. Cell Biol. 56(4): 474–481 (2023)
4. Kumagai, A., Izumisawa, M., Takahashi, N.: Forensic Age Estimation with Evaluation of Mandible Structure using Dental Cone-Beam Computed Tomography: A Pilot Study. Res. Pract. Forens. Med. 66: 33–41 (2023)
5. Angelakopoulos, N., Luca, De, S., OliveiraSantos, I., Ribeiro, I.L.A., Bianchi, I., Balla, S.B., Kis, H.C., Jiménez, L.G., Zolotenkova, G., Yusof, M.Y.P., Selmanagic, A.H., Pandey, H., Pereira, P.C., Nóbrega, da, J.B.M., Kalani, H., Mieke, S.M., Kumagai, A., Gulsahi, A., Zelić, K., Marinković, N., Kelmendi, J., Galic, I., Vázquez, I.S., Spinas, E., VelezmoroMontes, Y.W., Moukarzel, M., Toledo, J.P., ElSalam, ElBakary, A.A., Cameriere, R.: Third molar maturity index (I3M) assessment according to different geographical zones: a large multiethnic study sample. Int. J. Leg. Med. 137(2): 403–425 (2023)
6. Kumagai, A., Jeong, S., Kim, D., Kong, H., Oh, S., Lee, S.S.*: Teeth are known to be the　Validation of data mining models by comparing with conventional methods for dental age estimation in Korean juveniles and young adults. Sci. Rep. 13(1): 726 (2023)

【令和４（2022）年度】

1. Lee, S.S., Kumagai, A.: The applicability of Willems’and Lee’s dental age estimation methods for Japanese children and the comparison with the Korean population. Leg. Med. 58: 102094 (2022)
2. Oh, S., Kumagai, A., Kim, S., Lee, S.S.: Accuracy of age estimation and assessment of the 18- year threshold based on second and third molar maturity in Koreans and Japanese. PLOS ONE 17(7): e0271247 (2022)

【令和３（2021）年度】

1. Angelakopoulos, N.^*, Galić, I.^*, Balla, B.S.^*, Kiş, C.H.^*, Jiménez, Gómez, L.^*, Zolotenkova, G.^*, Yusof, Mohd, M.Y.P.^*, Selmanagić, Hadzić, A.^*, Pandey, H.^*, Pereira, Palmela, C.^*, Nóbrega, J.B.M.^*, Hettiarachchi, K.^*, Mieke, S.M.^*, Kumagai, A., Gulsahi, A.^*, Zelić, K.^*, Marinković, N.^*, Kelmendi, J.^*, Bianchi, I.^*, Vázquez, Soriano, I.^*, Spinas, E.^*, VelezmoroMontes, Y.W.^*, OliveiraSantos, I.^*, Luca, De, S.^*, Ribeiro, Arrais, I.L.^*, Moukarzel, M.^*, Cameriere, R.^*: Comparison of the third molar maturity index (I3M) between left and right lower third molars to assess the age of majority: a multiethnic study sample. Int. J. Leg. Med. 135: 2423–2436 (2021)
2. Tsunoda, K., Kumagai, A., Tsunoda, N., Obara, M., Kawai, T., Ohashi, Y., Miyamoto, I., Yamada, H.: Low serum levels of vitamin C in patients with oral lichen planus: a case-control study. J. Oral Maxillofac. Surg. Med. Pathol. 34(4): 440–444 (2021)

【令和２（2020）年度】

1. Cameriere, R.^*, Luca, De, S.^*, Vázquez, Soriano, I.^*, Kiş, C.H.^*, Pigolkin, Y.^*, Kumagai, A., Ferrante, L.^*: A full bayesian calibration model for assessing age in adults by means of pulp/tooth area ratio in periapical radiography. Int. J. Leg. Med. 135 (2): 677–685 (2020)

【令和元（2019）年度】

1. Kumagai, A., Takahashi, N., Palacio, L.A.V.^*, Giampieri, A.^*, Ferante, L.^*, Cameriere, R.^*: Accuracy of the third molar index cut-off value for estimating 18 years of age: Validation in a Japanese samples. Leg. Med. 38: 5–9 (2019)

【平成３０（2018）年度】

1. Kumagai, A., Iijima, S., Nomiya, T., Furuya, I., Ohashi, Y., Tsunoda, K., Onodera, K., Tsunoda, N., Komatsu, Y., Hirano, T.: A pilot study of the clinical evidence for the methodology for prevention of oral mucositis during cancer chemotherapy by measuring salivary excretion of 5-fluorouracil. BDJ Open 23: e17041 (2018)
2. Kumagai, A., Willems, G.^*, Franco, A.^*, Thevissen, P.^*: Age estimation combining radiographic information of two dental and four skeletal predictors in children and subadults. Int. J. Leg. Med. 132 (6): 1769–1777 (2018)