A critical review: an overview of genetic influence on dental caries

Dental decay is a complex, chronic disease and one of the most common illnesses in dentistry today. Several dental decay risk factors have been identified during the last years; however, these variables alone may not entirely explain the disease development. Genetic research applied to dental decay began in the 1930s with experimental reports in animals and human observational research. Only recently, have some studies begun to search for genetic polymorphisms in humans and apply linkage analysis. However, due to the complex characteristics of the disease, the strong influence from several biological and environmental factors, and the small number of genetic studies related to dental caries, the genetic basis still requires further study. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide a brief description of the current methodology for genetic analysis of complex traits, followed by a comprehensive evaluation of the literature related to genetic susceptibility/resistance to dental decay and a discussion of different aspects of the applied methodology. Advances towards the elucidation of the dental decay genetic basis may contribute to the understanding of the disease etiopathogenesis and to the identification of high risk groups, thus providing potential targets for effective screening, prevention and treatment.