Hypodontia, a prospective predictive marker for tumor?

Tooth agenesis and tumor are two totally different diseases occurring at different ages. In the past 10 years, more and more evidences suggested there was a relationship between them. High prevalence of breast, colon, lung, and ovary tumor was observed in tooth agenesis patients. But it is still controversial. Therefore, to have a greater understanding of the possible association, a critical review on molecular association for genes involving tooth agenesis and tumorigenesis is necessary. In this current review, we summarized the reported cases of tooth agenesis with different kinds of tumors and the molecular relationship between these two diseases through causative genes. The results indicated tooth agenesis might be a prospective predictive marker for tumor. Through this review, we want to draw more attention on this topic and hope it will be an effective way to predict the risk of tumor.