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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (5837)	2/28/2003 1:13:41 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 12252

Victim IDs Weighed Heavy on Dentists February 27, 2003 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:24 p.m. ET PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Watching the tragedy of the nightclub fire unfold on his television, Dr. Robert Mier knew he'd be poring through his dental records the next day. Teeth are the most fire-resistant part of the body, and the Warwick dentist realized some relatives and friends of his patients would be asking him for dental charts to identify their loved ones. Within two days of the Feb. 20 fire, a woman was in Mier's office seeking records on two patients feared dead -- her husband and his best friend since kindergarten. One of the men never missed a six-month checkup. The other was far less regular. Both were later confirmed dead, with the help of the dentist's records. ``These are people you see in the grocery store and talk to in the aisles,'' said Mier, whose office is only about a half-mile from the rubble of The Station, where 96 people perished in a fire last week started by a band's pyrotechnics. ``You start thinking of them more as friends than patients,'' he said. Unable to identify most of the victims who burned to death with a first glance or fingerprints, medical examiners asked dentists to turn over records. Three hours after Gov. Don Carcieri's live television appearance Saturday calling on dentists to help, 60 dental charts had been turned over to medical examiners, said Valerie Donnelly, executive director of the Rhode Island Dental Association. By Thursday, all the dead were identified -- swift by any standards. But it took its toll on the dentists who lost their patients and the ones with the grim task of making the matches. ``This is the worst disaster I've seen in my 28 years of doing this,'' said Dr. Stephen Puerini, a forensic expert who spearheaded the state's efforts to identify the victims. ``But you try to put the emotional aspect aside and get into a zone. But then you'll get a call from someone on the outside, and it makes it real for that moment. It hits you hard.'' For Mier, this is the third time in 14 years of practice that he's had to turn over dental records to help identify his patients. Two other patients died in plane crashes. ``It's very upsetting,'' Mier said. ``You're never going to see these people again, but their families still come to you.'' Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company.