The role of genetic factors in the etiology of temporomandibular disorders: a review.

OBJECTIVES

To perform a review of the literature of published articles assessing the role of genetic factors in the etiology of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs).

METHODS

A PubMed search was carried out by looking for all controlled clinical trials related to the topic and limiting the search to English language and humans. The references from the studies included and those from review articles were also examined for further relevant papers.

RESULTS

A total of 1999 articles were first identified, 24 of which were considered relevant to the topic. Two other papers were found while searching the references. While TMD signs and symptoms' co-occurrence was not found in subjects within the same family, many gene polymorphisms were shown to be associated with a higher or lower risk of TMD. Such genes were mainly related to serotonin activity and metabolism, Tcellreceptor pathway, catecholamine activity and metabolism, estrogen activity, folate metabolism, glutathione activity, ANKH gene, major histocompatibility complex, extracellular matrix metabolism, genes studied in the orofacial pain prospective evaluation risk and assessment (OPPERA) study, and related to cytokines activity and metabolism.

DISCUSSION: This new understanding of the pathophysiology of TMD can lead to a different treatment approach by identifying the subjects at higher risk for this pathology, and possibly by creating new drugs targeted at interfering with the expression of the genes that enhance such risk.