The use of a national craniofacial database

Abstract

Through the support of the Eighth Malaysian Development Plan, the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment allocated a research grant to develop a craniofacial spatial database to assist the medical, dental and forensic specialists to provide improved medical and forensic capability for the nation. One of the objectives of the grant was to develop and to implement a database, which would store normal, malformation, diseased and trauma (accident and burn victims) craniofacial information. Digital photogrammetry, 3D close-range laser scanning, Computed Tomography (CT) and cephalometric scanning were the key techniques selected to capture the spatial data. The objective of the paper is to provide a discussion on the identification of the database user.