‘Nothing Survives Fire Except Teeth’: Dentist on DNA Tests of Air India Victims
Dr Parmar shares how teeth were used to identify the bodies of Air India crash victims.
BY: PRIYA RAMANI
(Trigger Warning: This piece contains distressing content. Reader discretion is advised.)
“Prosthesis doesn’t melt, bone doesn’t melt, teeth don't melt. Even when nothing is left and the soft tissue is burned, these survive,” Dr Tamanna Parmar, 33, tells me over the phone from Ahmedabad.
That’s how Parmar, a periodontist and plastic implant surgeon, found herself extracting DNA samples from over 100 charred bodies alongside 25 or so doctors on 12 June. It was 6 pm. She was in her clinic as usual in Vejalpur, Ahmedabad, and she had just fitted a crown and repaired a cavity for a client.
That’s when she saw the message from a junior on a WhatsApp group. They needed dentists to collect DNA samples from the charred remains of the 241 victims of Air India 171. Only one person had survived the crash.
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