Pennsylvania Dental Association Dental Identification Team

Overview

PADIT is a highly skilled group of forensic dentists who are trained in mass disaster identification. PADIT members are on-call through the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) 24-hour Watch Desk in Harrisburg and will be at the disaster site within 12-24 hours of notice.

Membership Requirements

To become a PADIT member and to maintain active member status, the following requirements must be met:

• A dentist must have successfully completed a week-long forensic dentistry course at either the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Bethesda, Md. or the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
• Attend a PDA-sponsored forensic course at least every other year.
• Dentist-members must be PDA members in good standing.

If you meet the above requirements, please complete the online PADIT application to apply for membership.  

Recent Activations

• More than 30 team members responded to the 1994 crash of USAir Flight 427 (132 fatalities) near Pittsburgh. Sixteen PADIT members were initially notified and the remainder filled in during the next 11 days.
• In 1998 the team responded to a cabin fire in Centre County that resulted in 11 fatalities. Eight team members responded to the initial call and the identifications were completed in two days.
• The team's services were requested in May 2000 for the crash of an Executive Air commuter plane near the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre airport. This crash of a charter flight from Atlantic City, N.J., caused 19 fatalities. Eleven PADIT members responded to the scene and completed the identifications in three days.
• PADIT's most recent activation occurred in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. The team identified 44 victims of the United Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville. Fifteen PADIT members responded to the crash site by September 12.

WinID Training

For more information on PADIT, contact Leo Walchak at (717) 234-5941, ext. 103.