The heritability of alveolar bone thickness in siblings seeking orthodontic treatment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to calculate heritability estimates of alveolar bone thickness around maxillary and mandibular incisors. The sample consisted of cone-beam computed tomography scans of 69 groups of siblings. The scans were analyzed, and Invivo5 software was used to measure the labial and lingual bone thickness. The central point of the root was identified as the point of rotation in order to construct the point of intersection with the outer bone surface. The linear distance was measured from this constructed point to the root apex. The general linear method was then used to calculate the heritability of alveolar bone thickness. Heritability of alveolar bone thickness was, on average, 58.0% for maxillary incisors and 50.3% for mandibular incisors. These estimates indicate a moderate to high heritability of alveolar bone thickness with an overall average heritability of 54.1%. Genetic factors were found to play significant roles in determining bone thickness around these teeth. The genetic effect on alveolar bone thickness around incisors is moderate to high.