Radiographically readable information carrier and method of using same

A method of radiographically marking a person with individual information, comprising the steps of:

• providing a personal information carrier with radiopaque shapes of information carrying characters associated with the person which are radiographically readable by conventional dental X-ray technique;
• attaching the personal information carrier to a cavity within a mineralized part of the body like the teeth of the person to whom the information relates;
• and
• filling said cavity with a visually opaque radiolucent dental sealing material securing the information carrier with the cavity and hiding the presence of the information carrier from visual inspection.

A method of detection of the location of a missing person comprising the steps of:

• recording a code uniquely identifying the missing person apart from others of a group of persons before the person is missing;
• producing a personal identification carrier which has the code outlined in radiopaque material;
• inserting the carrier into a cavity of a tooth of the person identified by the code;
• filling the cavity with a radiolucent material to seal and hold the carrier within the cavity at a position from which it can be read from an X-ray radiograph of the tooth, said radiolucent material having a color selected to match that of the tooth to conceal the presence of the personal information carrier;
• and
• informing at least one of the (a) police authorities, (b) hospitals, (c) morgues, (d) coroners and (e) the professional dental community of the code of the person after they are missing and how to report the discovered code to the appropriate parties.

A method of installing a radiopaque personal information carrier carrying a readable radiopaque code, comprising the step of:

• making a cavity in the side of a selected tooth of a person to be identified for receipt of the personal information carrier;
• inserting the personal information carrier in the cavity to enable reading the code carried thereby from a conventional periapical, bitewing X-ray of the tooth;
• and
• protectively sealing the personal information carrier within the cavity with a visually opaque radiolucent composite filler.

A method of identifying a missing person comprising the steps of:

• permanently attaching a personal carrier within a cavity in a person's tooth and visually concealing the carrier with visually opaque radiolucent filler and having a radiopaque code readable from a radiograph thereof before the person is missing;
• making a radiograph of the cavity of the person's tooth to read the code when the person is found and before the person is identified;
• and
• comparing the radiographically read code with the code of the missing person to identify the person.