Meet Mumbai's first forensic odontologist who carved a niche for herself

The term forensic odontologist might sound complicated to most However the cityrsquos first professional Dr Hemlata Pandey describes it as ldquoa humanitarianrdquo work It has been eight years since Pandey has been helping to solve crime cases with her dental expertiseExplaining further about her work the Assistant Professor at KEM hospital says ldquoWe work for people who have been victimised Forensic odontology helps to identify unknown bodiesrdquo Apart from that it also helps with providing evidence in child abuse cases rape and domestic violence incidentsThe career path requires dental studies to be applied to forensics ie analysing bite marks dental and jaw structures to solve criminal and age identification cases However it isnrsquot a conventional subject that many opt for For Pandey this was just one chapter in her dental studies course Like many she also was curious about forensics from what was seen or read in popular culture ndash tv shows news etc ldquoWhen I learned that it is related to dentistry I wanted to know more about itrdquoUnfortunately the subject or the profession wasnrsquot popular in India The Dental Surgery graduate then went to Wales for a Masters in Forensic Odontology and to London for a oneyear course on forensic human identification Her desire to create awareness about it in India and also to introduce it to her juniors played an important part for her to choose the subjectHowever after completing her studies finding a job wasnrsquot easy It was a niche profession and there were hardly any vacancies available She credits Dr Sandhya Kamat the former dean of KEM Dr Harish M Pathak Head of Forensic Department at KEM and the current Dean of KEM Dr Hemant Deshmukh for encouraging her to pursue her passion ldquoWhen you find good people to encourage and motivate you it helps Then you can achieve whatever you wantrdquo she saysWhile she has carved a niche for herself in this field it is still a largely maledominated field ldquoIn this field you mostly deal with men You can sometimes feel a bit out of place but with encouraging colleagues who are always looking out for you it pushes you to do betterrdquoShe does find support from her family but her nature of work can be sometimes challenging and give rise to apprehensions Remembering the start of her job she says ldquoI got my first case which was of a 45yearold lady who was gang raped by five men This was in 2013 and just before that the Nirbhaya case had happened I felt worried about how do I talk to the victim and other aspects of the case And I didnrsquot want to make any mistakesrdquo Dr Pandey was anxious but once she spoke to Dr Pathak things felt a bit better Dr Pathak advised her to concentrate on the scientific part without making any errors and to take care of the documentations ldquoHe said your job is to be unbiased My job is to give the analysis of the evidence I should not be affected by what is being discussed in the media He gave a new perspective ndash concentrate on the science donrsquot worry about the outcomerdquo Over the years she has not let emotions affect her job and just concentrate on being practicalHowever she says ldquoEmotions are not a switch that you can turn it off When I deal with child abuse cases it is heartbreaking and it does take a toll To address that you need a good support system back homerdquoCurrently she wishes that in the future she is able to put together a wellequipped lab with sophisticated instruments She says they are slowly moving towards achieving that desire with digitization and 3Dreconstruction techniques etc ldquoI would wish that every city in India has one such labrdquoAnd her message to women who want to pursue an unconventional career path ldquoFind people who want to support you and encourage you Keep your distance from people who demotivate you Perseverance is very important Focus on your goalrdquoInputs by Supriya Nair