Physical comparison of a suspect's teeth to a bite mark injury using hollow volume comparison overlays is a common forensic odontology technique. Several methods are used to record characteristics of the size, shape and position of the teeth and to generate overlays. These include computer-based, radiographic, xerographic and hand-traced methods. The article compares five common overlay production methods using digital images of dental study casts as a reference standard. In addition, it measures and compares area of the biting edges of the anterior teeth and relative rotation of each anterior tooth. The computer-based production method was the most accurate; it produced accurate representations of the biting edges of the teeth in an objective manner. The radiographic method was more accurate than the xerographic with respect to tooth area measurement; the opposite was true with respect to tooth rotation. Hand-traced methods, from either wax impressions of teeth or directly from study casts, were inaccurate and subjective. Figures, tables, references