Association of β-defensin 1 gene Polymorphism and dental caries susceptibility in Tamil Ethnicity

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease that affects a large proportion of the population with both genetic and environmental factors contributing to the disease. Even in healthy oral environmental conditions, some individuals are susceptible to dental caries due to potential genetic contribution. Antimicrobial peptides are expressed in oral cavity and play an important role against microbial colonization and form an important first line defense against cariogenic bacteria. In the present study, we attempt to identify genetic variants that would cause significant functional impact towards susceptibility to dental caries. We investigated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of beta-defensin 1 (DEFB1) as predictors of dental caries in tamil ethnic population. A total of 120 subjects were recruited for this study, which included 60 dental caries patients (DMFT>5) and 60 healthy controls (DMFT=0). Three SNPs of 5’UTR regulatory elements of DEFB1 were genotyped by PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. The genotypes associated with susceptibility to caries were found to be significant between rs11362 (p=.025, odds ratio = 3.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.289-10.742), rs1799946 (p=.023, odds ratio=4.32, 95% CI = 1.33-14.028) gene polymorphisms and risk of dental caries (DMFT>5) in tamil ethnicity. The variant genotype GG of rs1800972 polymorphism was found to be high in cases than controls but was not significant (p=0.136). Our data suggested that β-defensin 1 polymorphisms play a role in the susceptibility to dental caries.

DMF Index among Amelogenesis Imperfecta Patients: Systematic Review of the Literature

Objectives. The aim of this study was to explore the literature in order to assess systematically the association between amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) and caries development and to evaluate the DMF index among AI patients. Basic Research Design. PubMed was used to explore the database Medline. The key words used were “Amelogenesis Imperfecta” [Mesh], “Dental Caries” [Mesh], “Tooth Loss” [Mesh], “DMF Index” [Mesh], and “Dental Restoration, Permanent” [Mesh]. Moreover, an ad hoc search was performed in order to make the study as exhaustive as possible. Results. Fifty-five articles were retained. The total number of patients gathered was 499. A percentage of 68.8% of the articles dealt with cases with a relatively low dental caries process, 20.8% dealt with cases in which the dental caries process was relatively moderate, and 10.4% dealt with cases in which the dental caries process was severe. Teeth extraction due to dental caries was mentioned in 10 articles. Eleven articles, concerning 53 patients, mentioned dental fillings. Four patients did not have dental filling due to dental caries. DMF index was very low in 2 articles and low-to-high in 3 articles. Conclusion. Low dental caries susceptibility with AI patients was noticed in this study. A possible factor could be the lack of proximal contacts and elimination of fissures through enamel loss. The lack of dental caries susceptibility was also explained by the microbacterial specificity of hypoplastic AI patients. Moreover, it was also noted that the prevalence of dental caries among AI patients depends on sociodemographic change.

Amelogenesis Imperfecta Enamel Changes, Amelogenin, and Dental Caries Susceptibility

There is great interest in identifying the subset of individuals in the population that are more susceptible to dental caries. We proposed that a portion of these particular individuals are more susceptible to dental caries due to changes in dental enamel that are related to amelogenin genomic variation. However, apparently amelogenin function can be impacted by inflammation, and this can lead to small changes in the structure of the dental enamel that later in life increases the risk of dental caries.