2020 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 236-244
Purpose: Periodontitis is characterized by the loss of tooth-supporting bone and common periodontal disease in people over 40 years old. While the colonization of dental biofilms triggers onset of the disease, various genetic and environmental factors affect its onset and progression. However, the relative contribution of genetic factors and environmental factors to the progression of periodontal diseases in elderly persons has not been fully clarified.
Methods: The twin research method is considered the “gold standard” to elucidate the ratio of the roles of genetic and environmental factors for lifestyle diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus or atherosclerosis. In this study, we compared the clinical phenotypes of periodontitis between monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) pairs in Japanese elderly twins to evaluate the relative contributions between genetic and environmental factors.
Results: The concordance rates for clinical features of periodontitis in MZ twin pairs were not high in the elderly group. Twin intra-class correlations for the average of probing depth and the percentage of BOP sites in MZ twins were higher than those in DZ twins. On the other hand, twin intra-class correlations for the number of total remaining teeth and score of bone resorption in MZ twins were almost the same as those in DZ twins.
Conclusion: Host genetic factors affect periodontitis. However, the relative contribution of environmental factors to periodontitis is relatively high in the Japanese elderly population, compared with genetic factors.
