In 1982, the American Dental Association initiated Operation Ident which encouraged the placing of some type of patient identification in all new removable prostheses constructed. Unfortunately, compliance has not been universal, although Ohio (1997) is the most recent state to require denture identification. The intent of this initiative includes both forensic and humanitarian issues and remains valid and worth promoting by all dentists. The patient's Social Security Number (SSN) is frequently the identifier used, but the patient's name might be preferred. The dentist must request that patient identification be placed in the denture, and provide the SSN (if preferred) in the dental laboratory work authorization. Many techniques for denture identification have been suggested, but the following method is similar to that described by Toolson and Taylor¹¹ and has been used at the Medical University of South Carolina for many years. This technique is accomplished after the denture is finished but not polished:

1. Type the identifier (name, SSN, etc.) on a shrinkable plastic sheet****.
2. With scissors, cut out the identifier leaving just a small border around the characters.
3. Place the identifier in a preheated oven at 300^o F for 30 seconds, or until the desired amount of shrinkage has occurred.
4. With a bur, cut a channel for the identifier into the lingual of the denture base, below the last molar. (Figure 7):
   

   Figure 7: The denture identifier (SSN) after shrinking and placed in the prepared channel in the preferred lingual location beneath the last molar. (In a fire, the tongue tends to swell tightly against this area of a denture, protecting it even after fingerprints have been destroyed).

5. Place the identifier in the channel and salt and pepper clear, auto-polymerizing acrylic resin around and over the identifier and cure. Visible light cured gel^t may also be used to embed the identifier.
6. Finish the clear acrylic resin with an acrylic bur.

****Shrink Art, Craft World International Corp., New Windsor, MD
^tTriad VLC Clear Gel, Dentsply International, York, PA