The data collection process depends upon when the pediatric and orthodontic residents have patients scheduled, usually two afternoons per week. Volunteers are solicited from the waiting room and include the parents and siblings. The only people who are not asked or accepted as volunteers are those people whose faces are swolen because of medication, or other reasons, those who cannot remain still for the few seconds for the few seconds during which the measurements are taken, and those males with facial hair. When someone agrees to be a volunteer, we first have the patient fill out and sign a brief information sheet and consent form. The information we collect includes, among others, name, age, height, weight, sex, and ethnic background.
All information is kept confidential.
Once the consent form is signed, the volunteer is seated in a dental chair, and his or her picture is taken. The measurement is captured on screen and a printout os made of that point. The tissue depth is measured by the machine. Frequently, forensic anthropologists and others who work in a medico-legal context are faced with the situation of having to clean tissue from bones in a fast, safe method that will not compromise the integrity of the bone. Boiling is often the easiest method of tissue removal.