Hamilton-area dentist recalls helping identify 9/11 victims at Ground Zero

A local dentist who did forensic work for Niagara and Hamilton police, was asked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help identify bodies pulled from the rubble at Ground Zero.

Dr. Frank Stechey said what stands out in his mind is the scale of the devastation.

In an interview, he described what he saw, and how he and other members of the team were able to use dental records and DNA to identify victims.

“If I was an alien, came down and looked at it, there’s no way I’d know that human beings were there,” said Stechey. “It was just — you couldn’t recognize anything. Everybody always asks, ‘what’s dentistry’s role?’ and actually, out of the whole anatomy that we would have, the teeth themselves will survive almost anything: time, trauma, everything, temperatures.”

Stechey says courier companies went to the homes of potential victims and got toothbrushes and combs — anything with DNA — and sent them to the medical examiner’s office free of charge to help with the identification process.

He says despite their grief, family members were relieved to get confirmation about their loved ones.

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