Inheritance and Susceptibility to Dental Caries: A Community-based Study

BACKGROUND: Effects of consanguineous marriage on human population are known. However, the inherited susceptibility to dental caries is unfortunately quite limited. AIM: This study aimed to assess the dental caries status (DMFT/deft [decayed-missed-filling teeth/decayed-extracted-filled teeth] index) in children born out of consanguineous and non-consanguineous marriages. DESIGN: Household survey using a cross-sectional study design was planned, with a sample size of 2000 comprising (1600 non-consanguineous and 400 consanguineous) children, aged 6–9 years. Household survey was also planned using a systematic random sampling. Researcher conducted the study by visiting every 10th household of every 10th ward of Aligarh city, Uttar Pradesh, India. Information of risk factors for dental caries (sociodemographic, birth order, oral hygiene, feeding practices) was recorded on a pretested questionnaire with clinical examination of DMFT/deft index. ANALYSIS: Student t test for equality of means and multivariate logistic regression were used. RESULTS: By Student t test for equality of means, D component (P = 0.003), d component (P < 0.001), and deft score (P < 0.001) were statistically significant in the consanguineous group. Multivariate logistic regression did not deduce any association of either of the study groups, but a significant association of risk factors with dental caries was observed. CONCLUSION: Dental caries that has multifactorial etiology, both environment and genetic factors, had an influence on the causation of dental caries in this study.