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Environmental and Heritable Factors in the Etiology of Oral Diseases—A Population-based Study of Swedish Twins

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;
² Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA;
³ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;
⁴ Department of Oral Sciences-Center for Clinical Dental Research, University of Bergen, Norway;
⁵ Department of Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; and
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;

^* corresponding author, lmucci{at}hsph.harvard.edu

A population-based twin study is a useful design for quantification of the effects of genes and environmental factors in disease etiology. We used data from 10,000 Swedish twin pairs to quantify genetic and environmental contributions to tooth loss and periodontal health. Oral health information was obtained from telephone interviews. Structural equation models measured the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors. Genetic factors contributed to 14% of variation in tooth loss among women, and 39% among men. Non-shared environmental factors accounted for one-quarter of risk; environmental factors shared by twins comprised the remainder. Heritability estimates of periodontal disease were 39% and 33% for women and men, respectively, while non-shared environmental factors accounted for the remaining variation. Heritability for both conditions varied as a function of age and smoking status. Analysis of data from this large, population-based study demonstrates a moderate role of genetic factors in oral diseases, and suggests potential gene-environment interactions.

KEY WORDS: twin study • periodontal disease • tooth loss • heritability