The purpose of this project is to identify the genetic factors contributing to dental caries in children and adults. The datasets come from<a href="https://www.dental.pitt.edu/research/center-oral-health-research-appalachia"> the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia (COHRA)</a>, which has the long-term goal of determining the sources of oral health disparities in a high risk, Northern Appalachian population so that effective preventive interventions can be designed and targeted. The specific aims of this project are to perform genome-wide association scans of dental caries of the (1) primary dentition in children, and (2) permanent dentition in adults, to identify novel risk variants and to replicate previously nominated risk variants. This project brings together samples from three cohorts: COHRA1 is a cross-sectional cohort comprising members of 862 northern Appalachian families; approximately 80% of the cohort has been previously genotyped by the Center for Inherited Disease Research with support from NIDCR using the Illumina Quad W array (see dbGaP Study Accession: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/gap/cgi-bin/study.cgi?study_id=phs000095">phs000095.v3.p1</a>). Dental SCORE is a cross-sectional cohort comprising approximately 550 unrelated individuals who underwent the same data collection protocol as COHRA1. COHRA2 is an ongoing longitudinal cohort that recruited approximately 1100 northern Appalachian women during pregnancy, and followed them and their children through their children's early childhood; the current project period will continue data collect though age 6 of the child. Phenotypes for this project were derived from intra-oral examinations performed by trained and calibrated research hygienists. In brief, each tooth was recorded as present or absent, and each surface of each present tooth was scored for evidence of decay. From these data, dental caries indices were generated. This project contains two phases of genotyping: (1) Collection of exome SNP Chip data for the previously genotyped COHRA1 samples, and (2) Collection of whole-genome SNP Chip data for the remaining COHRA1 samples and all Dental SCORE and COHRA2 samples. These data will support efforts to test hypotheses regarding the causal relationships of risk factors contributing to the unusually high rates of caries formation in the Appalachian population. Ultimately, these data may inform the development of an integrated model of caries risk, in which the effects of genetics, oral ecology, diet, and other environmental/psychosocial factors and behaviors are modeled in concert to explain the disparities, including the high rate of caries onset before age 6. The gene-mapping aims of this project, which seek to identify the genetic factors that contribute to caries risk, are a requisite step in realizing this integrated model.

Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia (COHRA) Genomic Studies of Oral Health and Disease

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