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DTUS0413

Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | April 2013A4 CLINICAL Dental phenomics While it was once assumed that genetic and environmental contributions to observed variation in many human physical and behavioral features were independent of each other, advances in the field of epigenetics have confirmed the dynamic nature of the interactions between the genome and the environ- ment, which result in phenotypic vari- ation. Epigenetics can be defined broadly as any alteration in gene expression with- out changes in nucleotide sequencing.1 On this basis, the development of the dentition can be viewed as comprising a series of spatial and temporal inter- actions between epithelial and ecto- mesenchymal tissues, where minor perturbations in the process of odon- togenesis may have significant effects on final phenotypic expression.2 Describing dental phenotypes in greater detail (compared with tradi- tional methods), together with appli- cation of modern approaches to large- scale genome scanning,3 now provides an opportunity to explore genetic, epi- genetic and environmental influences on the human dentition in more detail than has been possible previously. This has led to a new era of dental phenom- ics,2 which involves either intensive (detailed descriptions of multiple fea- tures on a single tooth) or extensive (detailed descriptions of multiple fea- tures across multiple teeth) phenotyp- ing of the dentition.4 The development of new equipment for measuring teeth in two dimensions (2-D) and three dimensions (3-D), in- cluding laser scanners, has facilitated the development of dental phenomics. Recent studies have shown both 2-D and 3-D techniques display high levels of reliability, precision and accuracy,5,6 opening up a range of exciting possi- bilities for dental researchers to define new, and more biologically meaning- ful, phenotypes. Figure 1 shows an example of 3-D im- aging of the dental models of a pair of monozygotic (MZ) twins, demonstrat- ing the high degree of detail and depth Dental phenomics: High-tech scans reveal similarities and differences in monozygotic twins By Suzanna Mihailidis, Atika Ashar, Toby Hughes, Michelle Bockmann, Alan Brook and Grant Townsend Fig. 1a: Image of 3-D laser scanned upper study model of MZ co-twin A. Photos/Provided by The University of Adelaide Fig. 1b: Image of 3-D laser scanned lower study model of MZ co-twin A. Fig. 1a Fig. 1b Ad