A study of occlusion and arch widths in families

It is often claimed that occlusal variation ("malocclusion") is under strong genetic control. This study of a large age-standardized series of families (parents and offspring) shows that the genetic contribution to occlusal variation is quite low. On average, only about 10 percent of the variation in overjet, overbite, crowding, tooth rotations, and molar relationships results from nonenvironmental causes. In contrast, about 60 percent of the variation in measurements of arch size and shape is attributable to heredity.