Influence of heritability on occlusal traits: a systematic review of studies in twins

The aim of this systematic review was to identify, evaluate, and provide a current literature about the influence of heritability on the determination of occlusal traits.

MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, LILACS, and Google Scholar were searched without restrictions up to March 2020. Studies with twin method were considered and the risk of bias assessment was performed using quality of genetic association studies checklist (Q-Genie). The coefficient of heritability (h²), model-fitting approaches, and coefficient correlation were used to estimate the genetic/environmental influence on occlusal traits. The GRADE tool was used to assess the quality of the evidence.

Ten studies met the eligibility criteria. Three studies presented good quality, five moderate quality, and two poor quality. Most studies have found that the intra-arch traits, mainly the maxillary arch morphology, such as width (h² 16-100%), length (h² 42-100%), and shape (h² 42-90%), and the crowding, mainly for mandibular arch (h² 35-81%), are under potential heritability influence. The traits concerning the inter-arch relationship, as overjet, overbite, posterior crossbite, and sagittal molar relation, seem not to be genetically determined. The certainty of the evidence was graded as low for all outcomes.

Although weak, the available evidence show that the heritability factors are determinant for the intra-arch traits, namely, arch morphology and crowding. Possibly due they are functionally related, the occlusal traits concerning the maxillary and mandibular relationship seem to have environmental factors as determinants. In this scenario, early preventive approaches can offer a more effective and efficient orthodontic treatment.