Kids' dental cavities not just bad genes, lifestyle also a factor: Report

Environmental factors appear to play a bigger role than genetics in shaping children’s risk for cavities, a study of Australian twins suggests.

Researchers followed 345 twins from 24 weeks’ gestation through six years of age, when they all had dental checkups. At age six, 32 per cent of the kids had tooth decay and 24 per cent of the children had advanced cavities.

To see how much genetics might shape the risk of cavities, researchers looked at how often both kids got cavities in pairs of identical twins — who have identical genetic variations — and fraternal twins