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Systematic Assessment of Mammalian Skull Specimens for Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology
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Clustering tooth surfaces into biologically informative caries outcomes.
J R Shaffer1, E Feingold, X Wang
1Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. jr8@pitt.edu
Journal of Dental Research
|October 16, 2012
Summary
Dental caries risk factors vary by tooth surface. Researchers identified 5 distinct tooth surface groups, revealing some caries patterns are genetic and linked to lifestyle factors.
Area of Science:
- Oral health research
- Dental epidemiology
- Human genetics
Background:
- Dental caries is a prevalent global health issue.
- Traditional caries measures (DMFS index) assess the entire dentition.
- Risk factors for dental caries may not affect all tooth surfaces equally.
Purpose of the Study:
- To group tooth surfaces based on caries co-occurrence using hierarchical clustering.
- To investigate the heritability of caries within these identified tooth surface groups.
- To explore associations between cluster-based caries outcomes and demographic/behavioral risk factors.
Main Methods:
- Hierarchical clustering of tooth surface-level caries data from 1,068 Appalachian adults.
- Replication of cluster analysis using a national dataset (NHANES 1999-2000).
- Creation of new caries outcome variables based on identified tooth surface clusters.
Main Results:
- Five distinct tooth surface clusters (C1-C5) were identified: pit/fissure molars, mandibular anteriors, posterior non-pit/fissure, maxillary anteriors, and mid-dentition surfaces.
- Some cluster-based caries outcomes demonstrated significant heritability (p < 0.05).
- Associations were found between specific cluster-based caries outcomes and age, sex, education, and toothbrushing habits.
Conclusions:
- The permanent dentition can be effectively subdivided into clinically relevant groups of tooth surfaces.
- This surface-grouping approach aids in understanding the multifactorial influences on dental caries.
- Future research can leverage these clusters to better elucidate genetic and environmental contributions to caries development.
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