Genetic and Environmental Influences on Dental Arch Shape During Development: A Longitudinal Twin Study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to phenotypic variations of dental arch shape from the primary to permanent dentition stages. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Maxillary and mandibular digital models of 188 twin pairs (90 monozygotic and 98 dizygotic) in the primary dentition stage, tracked longitudinally through the mixed and permanent dentition stages, were examined. Dental landmarks were recorded at the incisal edges of incisors and the cusp tips of canines and posterior teeth in both arches in MeshLab. Arch shape variation was analysed using Procrustes superimposition and principal component analysis, then partitioned into genetic and environmental variance components using genetic structural equation modelling. RESULTS: The first three principal components were meaningful, explaining 42%-54% of the phenotypic variation in dental arch shape from the primary to permanent dentition stages. The arch depth-to-width ratio (principal component 1) greatly influenced arch shape in both maxillary and mandibular arches across all dentition stages. Other components included canine position, displacement and rotation of incisors and posterior teeth and the steepness of the curve of Spee. An AE model incorporating additive genetic (A) and non-shared environmental (E) components best explained the phenotypic variances in dental arch shape, with narrow-sense heritability estimates ranging from 0.60 to 0.84 for the first three principal components. CONCLUSIONS: The dental arch shape was predominantly influenced by additive genetic and non-shared environmental factors throughout development, with moderate to high heritability estimates across all dentition stages.