(CNN) -- Investigators -- asked to determine if a possible new clue is linked to the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway -- now hope to learn Thursday whether a jawbone found on an Aruban beach belongs to an animal or a human.
Results from the testing of the bone were expected to be returned Wednesday, but investigators were held up by a technical delay.
If the bone is human, authorities will then attempt to find out through DNA testing whether it belongs to Holloway, who was last seen on the island in 2005.
It is being evaluated at the Netherlands Forensic Institute in The Hague, Netherlands, Aruban prosecutor Peter Blanken said this week.
Holloway's dental records were sent to the forensic institute on Wednesday, the FBI said.
"We provided her dental records to the Dutch authorities. They were sent electronically," said FBI spokesman Paul Daymond. The information-sharing is "what we do, nothing out of the ordinary," he said.
The Holloway family had told HLN's "Nancy Grace" that the records were sent to the Hague.
The length of testing can vary, but normally takes about a week, according to a representative of the institute. The findings will be sent back to the prosecutor's office in Aruba, which will decide whether to make the results public.
Part of a jawbone with a tooth was found on Friday by an American tourist near the Phoenix Hotel, a large resort on the western side of Aruba, Blanken said.
Contacted by CNN, the hotel referred questions to local authorities.
The prosecutor said the bone was initially examined by a forensic expert in Aruba, who determined the bone was from a young woman. But Blanken cautioned the final determination would be made by the forensic institute in the Netherlands.
Holloway was 18 when she was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving an Oranjestad, Aruba, nightclub with Joran van der Sloot and two other men. She was visiting the island with about 100 classmates to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.
Van der Sloot was detained twice in connection with Holloway's disappearance but never charged.
He is now awaiting trial in Lima, Peru, on a murder charge in the death of Peruvian student Stephany Flores. Her body was found in May in a hotel room registered to van der Sloot. The two were seen entering the room on a surveillance camera.
Van der Sloot, 23, is also charged with wire fraud and extortion in Alabama for allegedly attempting to extort more than $250,000 from Holloway's family in return for disclosing the location of her body.
HLN's Rupa Mikkilineni, CNN's Susan Candiotti, Laura Perez Maestro, Brian Walker and CNN Radio's Ninette Sosa contributed to this report.