The Role of Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms on Dental Caries

Abstract

In the future, VDR gene polymorphisms may be used as a marker for the identification of patients with high caries risk.

Vitamin D Receptor<b><i> Taq</i></b>I Gene Polymorphism and Dental Caries in Czech Children

“…In summary, although the results of 2 previous studies indicated that Taq I variants of the VDR gene might be associated with dental caries [Hu et al, 2015;Cogulu et al, 2016], the findings of this study suggest that this polymorphism is likely to contribute to gingival status in the Czech population. Nevertheless, further investigations are needed to confirm this finding in larger populations with different ethnic backgrounds.…”

“…In contrast to European (Czech) subjects, where the frequency of ''T'' versus ''t'' alleles was 61 versus 39% in healthy children, in the Chinese population the ''T'' allele was the dominant allele, with a frequency of 95.7%, and no ''tt'' homozygotes were observed in a group of 483 adult people [Hu et al, 2015]. In a small group of 38 caries-free children aged 6-12 years from Turkey, the frequency of ''T'' versus ''t'' alleles was 58 versus 42%, and the authors associated only the ''tt'' genotype with high caries risk [Cogulu et al, 2016]. In contrast to our study, their children had mixed (not only permanent) dentition; there are some findings that genes affecting susceptibility to caries can differ between the 2 types of teeth [Wang et al, 2010;Borilova Linhartova et al, 2016].…”

“…These findings are in disagreement with results published by Hu et al [2015], who suggested that the ''t'' allele and ''Tt'' genotype might be risk factors of susceptibility to dental caries in adults from the northwest of China. Further, the VDR Taq I ''tt'' genotype was very recently reported to increase the risk of caries in Turkish children [Cogulu et al, 2016]. In contrast to European (Czech) subjects, where the frequency of ''T'' versus ''t'' alleles was 61 versus 39% in healthy children, in the Chinese population the ''T'' allele was the dominant allele, with a frequency of 95.7%, and no ''tt'' homozygotes were observed in a group of 483 adult people [Hu et al, 2015].…”

“…Cogulu et al [2016] examined 350 children aged 6-12 years, but a final association between the VDR Taq I polymorphism and caries was found only in a group of 150 children (75 boys and 75 girls) with similar dental plaque scores, hygiene habits, and sugar consumption, which was further divided into 3 small subgroups of caries-free, moderate, and high caries ( n = 38, 57, and 55, respectively). However, we analyzed the study population of 388 unrelated children at the age of 13-15 years, which was more than twice the size of the Turkish study [Cogulu et al, 2016] and only a little smaller than the first study by Hu et al [2015]. Thirdly, different genetic backgrounds due to different ethnicity (Asians vs. Caucasians) in the 3 studies could be a cause of heterogeneity of the results.…”

“…Several studies evaluated the potential association between this VDR gene polymorphism and an increased susceptibility to periodontitis [Deng et al, 2011]. To date, only 2 studies have analyzed allele and genotype frequencies of the VDR Taq I polymorphism in patients with dental caries in Turkish and Chinese populations [Hu et al, 2015;Cogulu et al, 2016]. However, no study has been conducted on Caucasians yet.…”