Objectives: The objective of this study was to report the integrated observations of high‐risk HPV‐related oral squamous carcinoma (OSCC) at our national referral center for cancer, the Dharmais National Cancer Hospital (DNCH), Jakarta, from 2003 to 2013.Materials and Methods: Seventy‐eight formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded specimens obtained from OSCC cases were collected from 2003 to 2013 DNCH archives and were included in this high‐risk HPV (HR‐HPV) study. Seventy‐nine DNA samples from the normal oral mucosa of healthy individuals were obtained from the Oral Biology Laboratory DNA archives from 2001 to 2005. Glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase was used as a control to ensure the DNA integrity for the subsequent HPV DNA PCR detection. High‐risk HPV16/18 DNA amplification was conducted by nested PCR using two pairs of primers that were designed specifically to identify the region of gene L1 HPV16 and the HPV16/18 region.Results and Conclusions: A high prevalence of HPV16/18 was detected in OSCC cases (17.9%). HPV18 occurred more often than HPV16 (86%) among OSCC patients who were HPV positive. This result supports high HPV18 prevalence among Indonesian cervical cancer patients studied in 1995 and 2006. The prevalence of high‐risk HPV remains low in the normal Indonesian population (3.8%), but HPV16 is consistently more frequently detected in non‐cancer populations.

Dental development can be used to estimate age for forensic purposes. However, most of the currently available methods are less reliable for the Indonesian population due to population variability. This study presents a new method and evaluates other methods that utilize dental development to estimate the age of Indonesian people. Panoramic radiographs of 304 young Indonesian people aged 5–23 years old were analysed for deciduous tooth root resorption, permanent tooth calcification, and eruption. The extent of tooth root resorption was determined based on AlQahtani’s modified Moorrees et al. method. Tooth calcification was classified based on a modified Demirjian et al. method. Tooth eruption was evaluated based on AlQahtani’s modified Bengston system. The sequence of tooth root resorption, and permanent tooth calcification and eruption were grouped into 19 age categories (from 5–23 years old) in an atlas. The differences between males and females, between maxillary and mandibular teeth, and between right and left teeth were also analysed. There were minimal significant differences of tooth development between males and females, and between the right and left teeth (P > 0.05), while the maxillary and mandibular dental development was significantly different (P < 0.05). The newly developed atlas showed the development of the right side of maxillary and mandibular tooth of combined sex of Indonesian population. Another 34 panoramic radiographs of known-age and sex individuals from Indonesia were assessed using the newly developed Atlas of Dental Development in the Indonesian Population, Ubelaker’s Dental Development Chart, The London Atlas of Human Tooth Development and Eruption by AlQahtani, and the Age Estimation Guide-Modern Australia population by Blenkin-Taylor. Accuracy was assessed by comparing estimated age to actual chronological age using the Bland-Altmand test. Results show that the smallest range of error was found in the Atlas of Dental Development in the Indonesian Population (−0.969 to 1.210 years), followed by The London Atlas of Human Tooth Development and Eruption by AlQahtani (−2.013 to 1.990 years), the Age Estimation Guide-Modern Australia population by Blenkin-Taylor (−2.495 to 2.598 years), and the Dental Development Chart by Ubelaker (−2.960 to 3.289 years). These findings show that the Atlas of Dental Development constructed in this study performs better than the other three methods and presents greater accuracy of age estimation in the Indonesian population.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in using DNA methylation analysis for age estimation. Despite this growing interest, there is a scarcity of research on the potential of DNA methylation as a biomarker for age estimation in Indonesia. This study aims to investigate the applicability of ELOVL2, PRKG2, and EDARADD genes for forensic identification in the 11–20 age group among Indonesians. This research utilizes 43 archived blood samples from healthy individuals who underwent blood tests at the Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital (RSPAD) in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The methylation-specific PCR (MSP) technique assessed the DNA methylation level. The key findings of this study include (1) a strong positive correlation between methylation levels in the ELOVL2 gene and age; (2) a strong negative correlation between methylation levels in PRKG2 and EDARADD genes with age; (3) the development of three linear regression formulas for age prediction; and (4) mean absolute error (MAE) values derived from this research, which are ±0.48 for ELOVL2 gene regression formula, ±0.58 for PRKG2 gene regression formula, and ±0.72 for EDARADD gene regression formula. In summary, this study explores the potential of DNA methylation analysis for age estimation in Indonesia, focusing on ELOVL2, PRKG2, and EDARADD genes in the 11–20 age group. The findings underscore the applicability of DNA methylation analysis in forensic identification and age estimation, paving the way for future research in this field.

Background: MiRNAs have emerged as minimally invasive biomarkers with considerable potential for the early detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Although numerous studies have evaluated circulating miRNAs across different biofluids, the comparative diagnostic performance of saliva-, serum-, and plasma-derived miRNAs has not been systematically clarified. Methods: A meta-analysis was performed by screening PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, and related databases. Nineteen eligible studies evaluating miRNA-based assays in saliva, serum, or plasma were included. A random-effects bivariate model was used to calculate pooled sensitivity, specificity, and area under the HSROC curve. Meta-regression using log diagnostic odds ratio (lnDOR) examined whether biofluid type significantly influenced diagnostic performance. Results: Salivary miRNAs showed a pooled sensitivity of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.68–0.82; I² = 84.69%), specificity of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.70–0.85; I² = 70.41%), and an AUC of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.80–0.87). Plasma miRNAs produced comparable results with a pooled sensitivity of 0.77 (95% CI: 0.61–0.88; I² = 90.45%), specificity of 0.79 (95% CI: 0.63–0.89; I² = 80.20%), and an AUC of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.81–0.89). Serum-derived miRNAs demonstrated the highest accuracy with a pooled sensitivity of 0.82 (95% CI: 0.70–0.90; I² = 76.92%), specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.75–0.95; I² = 74.87%), and an AUC of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.89–0.94). Despite serum’s numerically superior performance, meta-regression revealed no significant matrix effect (Wald χ² = 0.20, p = 0.903). Conclusions: Although serum-derived miRNAs performed best overall, biofluid type was not a statistically significant determinant of diagnostic performance.

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains a major global health burden due to delayed diagnosis. Although salivary biomarkers have been explored in previous meta-analyses, these studies were limited to specific biomarker types. Methods: This study followed PRISMA guidelines and was registered in PROSPERO (CRD 420261296936). PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, and CINAHL were searched for diagnostic accuracy studies of salivary biomarkers for OSCC. Studies providing sufficient data to construct 2 × 2 tables were included. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, DOR, and HSROC curves were estimated using a bivariate random-effects model, and study quality was assessed using QUADAS-2. Results: Eighteen studies comprising 1647 participants yielded 45 diagnostic datasets across multiple biomarker classes. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.64 (95% CI: 0.59–0.69) and 0.71 (95% CI: 0.66–0.76), respectively. The pooled DOR was 4.53 (95% CI: 3.18–6.47), indicating moderate discriminatory ability, with an AUC of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.71–0.79). Fagan’s nomogram analysis demonstrated that these biomarkers are not suitable for screening the general population and should be reserved for enriched populations (pre-test probability > 10%). Conclusions: Salivary biomarkers demonstrate moderate but highly heterogeneous diagnostic accuracy. Clinical utility is context-dependent and limited to enriched populations with a baseline probability of OSCC >10%. In screening the general population (prevalence < 0.01%), these tests offer no significant clinical utility. They should be considered complementary triage tools rather than definitive diagnostic modalities.

Identification of sex estimation is the first step in the identification process and is one of the priority parameters in the forensic identification process. Identification is made when the condition of the body is unrecognizable due to natural disasters, transport accidents, bomb explosions, ethnic studies and crime investigations, where only a few parts of the body are already incomplete and limited information are available. In forensic odontology, morphological and morphometric analysis of the orocraniofacial bone is an important component that can help in the process of identifying sex estimation because it has different shapes and sizes in each individual and population. This article will discuss morphological and morphometric analysis of several parameters of the orocraniofacial bone, as well as the advantages and limitations of both methods.