Individual susceptibility to disease (i.e., one’s own genetic background) is one of the three main components classically described in the etiology of dental caries. Hence, genes influence susceptibility to erosive tooth wear, dental development, and response to treatments and interventions. This publication is an up-to-date overview of individual susceptibility to dental caries, erosive tooth wear, and disturbances of dental development from different clinically relevant perspectives. One of the most recognized scientists in this field reports on recent research relating to human genetics – from general summaries to recommendations for daily clinical work and population-level interventions. This book covers all aspects of individual susceptibility to dental caries and erosive tooth wear. Several chapters deal with potential biological mechanisms, with additional ones providing a strong foundation in human genetics, and other chapters touch on efficacy of therapies and alternative concepts. This book is particularly recommended to dental medicine students, practitioners, other oral healthcare professionals, and scientists with an interest in translational research on dental caries and erosive tooth wear.
2022. "Foreword", The Overlooked Individual: Susceptibility to Dental Caries, Erosive Tooth Wear and Amelogenesis, Alexandre Rezende Vieira
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Human genetics is the discipline that deals with inheritance as it occurs in human beings. It has components of classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling, and to the list we can now add epigenetics. My main purpose in writing this book is to document the content specific of Cariology of 15 years of developing a Craniofacial Genetics course for dental students. The course, as is this book, is designed to use dental caries, erosive tooth wear, and amelogenesis to present genetic concepts. In that sense, this book brings information that is not typically found in other Cariology textbooks or dental textbooks. Similarly to how the course addresses inheritance of dental conditions, the book focuses on inheritance, which is a topic not much explored in publications of the Cariology field. This text is the result of more than 20 years of interactions with a number of very talented dental and craniofacial scientists, dentists, and physicians from all continents. I thank Nicholas, Bernardo, and the editorship of Marília Buzalaf, who carefully revised the text for grammar, style, and flow. Each chapter of this book was anonymously peer-reviewed, and so I also thank each reviewer, since their criticism forced me to improve the text for better readability.
Chapter 1 provides the basis for all other chapters, and although the following chapters are structured to stand alone in their respective contents, there are relevant concepts described throughout that can be relevant to all other chapters in the book. I tried to cross-reference the chapters, but there is a good chance I may have missed something. In that sense, this book can be read as a novel that starts describing inheritance in humans and culminates with a reflection on fluoridating drinking water as a populational intervention. Since multifactorial inheritance is the best explanation for the variation seen in the population of dental caries and erosive tooth wear, this concept is highlighted in all chapters, and the repetition is done purposely.
In writing this volume, I have attempted to produce a comprehensive but at the same time concise, well-referenced text on the genetics of dental caries and erosive tooth wear, each area combined in a separate chapter with depth provided by selecting a few ideas we published for detailed consideration, including a few instances of original data.
Readers who should find this volume of interest include dentists, dental hygienists, craniofacial, oral, and maxillofacial surgeons, craniofacial biologists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, students, and others with special interest in the dental, oral, and craniofacial structures.
Alexandre R. Vieira
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
