Gene-environment Interactions in the Etiology of Dental Caries

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease that can be conceptualized as an interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of AMELX, CA6, DEFB1, and TAS2R38 gene polymorphism and gene-environment interactions on caries etiology and susceptibility in adults. Genomic DNA was extracted from the buccal mucosa, and adults aged 20 to 60 y were placed into 1 of 2 groups: low caries risk (DMFT ≤ 5; n = 77) and high caries risk (DMFT ≥ 14; n = 77). The frequency of AMELX (+522), CA6 (T55M), DEFB1 (G-20A), and TAS2R38 (A49P) single-nucleotide polymorphisms was genotyped with the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Environmental risk factors examined in the study included plaque amount, toothbrushing frequency, dietary intake between meals, saliva secretion rate, saliva buffer capacity, mutans streptococci counts, and lactobacilli counts. There was no difference between the caries risk groups in relation to AMELX (+522) polymorphism (χ(2) test, P > 0.05). The distribution of CA6 genotype and allele frequencies in the low caries risk group did not differ from the high caries risk group (χ(2) test, P > 0.05). Polymorphism of DEFB1 (G-20A) was positively associated, and TAS2R38 (A49P) negatively associated, with caries risk (χ(2) test, P = 0.000). There were significant differences between caries susceptibility and each environmental risk factor, except for the saliva secretion rate (Mann-Whitney U test, P = 0.000). Based on stepwise multiple linear regression analyses, dental plaque amount, lactobacilli count, age, and saliva buffer capacity, as well as DEFB1 (G-20A), TAS2R38 (A49P), and CA6 (T55M) gene polymorphism, explained a total of 87.8% of the variations in DMFT scores. It can be concluded that variation in CA6 (T55M), DEFB1 (G-20A), and TAS2R38 (A49P) may be associated with caries experience in Turkish adults with a high level of dental plaque, lactobacilli count, and age and when saliva buffer capacity is low.