Demonstration the Association Between CA VI Exon 2 Genetic Polymorphism and Dental Caries Among Saudi Population

Objectives: Dental caries is a major oral health problem in Saudi Arabia. The numbers are increasing and the status is worsening despite all kind of efforts to control caries. Caries is a multifactorial disease and little is still known about the genetic factors influencing susceptibility. Analysis of SNPs in relation to caries has high potential to detect this affect. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between CAVI Exon2 genetic polymorphism and dental caries among Saudi using modern molecular genetics technology.
Methods: Two hundred forty four healthy young adult Saudi with caries and saliva free lact (n=124) and without caries (n=120) participated in this study. The occurrence of caries in individuals was measured by using the DMFT (number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth) index. The oral hygiene and gingival status were assessed using the simplified Oral Hygien Index OHI-S (Greene-Vermillion) and gingival index GI (Leo-Silness). Salivary total protein, CA activity, and salivary buffering capacity were determined. Furthermore, salivary pH was measured and salivary flow rates (SFR) were calculated. Lactobacillus and Streptococcus mutans counts were also determined. Gene polymorphism of CAVI Exon 2 was determined by PCR and DNA sequencing.
Results: Two SNPs were detected which are responsible threonine to methionine change in codon 55 (T55M) and tyrosine to serine in codon 71 (Y71S). We found that CA activity were significantly different (p< 0.05) between the Saudi with caries and without caries.
Conclusions: We conclud that two SNPs found in this study may be specific polymorphisms affecting Saudi population.We recommend dentists to request the genetic investigation of CAVI Exon 2 polymorphism for Saudi with severe caries. Also, we strongly recommend the patients who carry the mutations of CAVI enzyme to have alternative nutrients include CAVI enzyme like milk and spinach.