Dental caries and periodontitis account for a vast burden of morbidity and healthcare spending, yet their genetic basis remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we identify self-reported dental disease proxies which have similar underlying genetic contributions to clinical disease measures and then combine these in a genome-wide association study meta-analysis, identifying 47 novel and conditionally-independent risk loci for dental caries. We show that the heritability of dental caries is enriched for conserved genomic regions and partially overlapping with a range of complex traits including smoking, education, personality traits and metabolic measures. Using cardio-metabolic traits as an example in Mendelian randomization analysis, we estimate causal relationships and provide evidence suggesting that the processes contributing to dental caries may have undesirable downstream effects on health.

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BackgroundThe main aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the prevalence and severity of erosive tooth wear and its association with dental caries and socio-demographic factors among middle-aged Finnish adults.MethodsOf the total Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 12,058), a convenience sample (n = 3181 adults) was invited for an oral health examination of which 1962 (61.7 %) participated, comprising the final study group. Clinical examinations were carried out by trained and calibrated dentists. Erosive tooth wear was assessed by sextants using the Basic Erosive Wear Examination Index (BEWE, 0–18) and dental caries at surface level using the ICDAS criteria (0–6). Socio-demographic data were obtained from a postal questionnaire. A logistic regression model was generated to test the association of the variables.ResultsThe prevalence of erosive tooth wear was 75 % and the mean of the BEWE sum score was 3.4 (SD 3.30). Almost half of the members needed non-invasive or invasive measures to prevent further progression of the condition. Of those with erosive lesions, 14.6 % suffered from severe erosive tooth wear. There was a strong positive relationship between the presence of severe erosive tooth wear (BEWE sum score ≥9) and male gender and restorative treatment need.ConclusionsErosive tooth wear is a common finding in Finnish adult population; almost one in ten suffer from severe erosive tooth wear. Restorative treatment need seems to be associated with severe erosive tooth wear.

The present results show that root resorption of maxillary lateral incisors was common in patients referred to CBCT imaging due to maxillary canine eruption disturbances. Although significantly more frequent in patients with ectopically erupting canines, lateral incisor resorption was also found in association with approximately every third of the normally erupting canines. The best predictor for root resorption seemed to be location of the canine mesial in relation to the midline of the lateral incisor root.