Assessment of dentofacial variations in monozygotic twins

Abstract

With dentofacial development being a multifactorial process, we face the question of whether genetic or environmental factors play a larger role in specific phenotypic traits. The use of twin studies allows one to employ genetic controls to the study such that one can focus solely on traits that may be more environmentally determined. This study involves retrospective as well as current analytical measurements between a set of monozygotic twins to assess genetic and outside influences on facial and intraoral development. While similarities were acknowledged, we found differences in measurements of the facial thirds, the congenital presence of mandibular third molars, and the presence of mandibular tori.