Sir, I have recently been contacted by the Recovery & Identification Unit of the Royal Netherlands Army with a request to help identify a World War 2 (WW2) soldier, the remains of whom were exhumed in 1995. As yet his body has not been identified.

A major key to his identification now rests on the fact that he wore a partial upper vulcanite denture. The denture was inscribed on the palatal fit surface with two numbers − 183 and 772 (Figs 1, 2).

Figure 1
figure 1

A diagram of the denture

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Figure 2
figure 2

The vulcanite denture

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The Dutch team are quite convinced that the denture was made for the soldier following his enlistment into the army.

An extensive search of records in the Royal Army Dental Corps Museum has so far failed to help identify the soldier from his denture.

I would very much like to hear from any dental technician who served in the army dental services during WW2 and who might be able to shed some light on the two numbers inscribed on the fit surface of the denture.

Please contact Colonel (Retd) James Hardy – by telephone on 01252 863264 or email rsme-hq-dental@rsme.mod.uk.