Research

Dental & Oral Health

How your genes affect dental caries susceptibility, periodontal disease risk, enamel quality, and oral cancer risk

This category covers salivary buffering capacity and caries susceptibility (CA6/gustin), enamel mineralization quality (AMELX amelogenin), aggressive periodontitis risk through innate immune defensin pathways (DEFA1A3 alpha-defensins, GLT6D1 glycosyltransferase), and oral tissue carcinogen metabolism (CYP1A1). These variants influence how effectively your saliva neutralizes plaque acids, how well your enamel resists demineralization, how your gingival immune system responds to periodontal pathogens, and how oral tissues process environmental carcinogens.

See your personal results for Dental & Oral Health

Upload your DNA data and find out which variants you carry across all 5 SNPs in this category.

Upload your DNA data

Works with 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and other DNA test exports. Results in under 60 seconds.

Genetic Variants (5)

rs2274327

(CA6 Thr55Met)

Reduces salivary carbonic anhydrase VI (gustin) secretion, impairing oral acid buffering and increasing susceptibility to dental caries

View details

rs17878486

(AMELX)

Intronic variant in amelogenin X-linked gene affecting enamel mineralization and susceptibility to dental caries and developmental enamel defects

View details

rs1537415

(GLT6D1)

Intronic variant in GLT6D1 reducing GATA-3 transcription factor binding in T cells, increasing aggressive periodontitis risk

View details

rs2738058

(DEFA1A3)

Intergenic variant downstream of the DEFA1A3 alpha-defensin locus; T risk allele is associated with a 28% increased risk of periodontitis through altered neutrophil defensin availability in the gingival immune response

View details

rs4646903

(CYP1A1 *2A (MspI, T3801C))

Regulatory variant in the 3'-flanking region of CYP1A1 that increases gene inducibility, producing more carcinogen-activating enzyme in oral and airway tissues upon tobacco smoke or dietary PAH exposure

View details