Association between Dental Agenesis and Cancer-A Systematic Review of Literature

Abstract

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease with clinical and etiological diversity. Teeth are formed from neural crest-derived mesenchyme and epithelium of the first branchial arch and part of the frontonasal process. Dental agenesis is characterized by congenital absence of teeth, affecting approximately 5% to 7% of the population, being more prevalent in the permanent dentition. Some types of cancers such colorectal, ovarian, lung and breast are described as containing association with dental agenesis, having induction factors in association where the mutation in some genes functions as these induction factors for the two pathologies. Through the model of the PRISMA review platform, literature databases were analyzed, where keywords of association of dental agenesis and cancer were used. We found 151 articles that made the association, but only 7 specifically met the search requirements. Some genes such as AXIN2, EDA, FGF3, FGFR2, FGFR10, MSX1 and PAX9 are directly associated with dental agenesis and cancers, such as colorectal, ovarian, lung and breast, since the inactivation of some of them also acts as an induction factor in the developmental predisposition neoplastic. More genetic studies are needed to prove the association between dental agenesis and other types of cancers. However, it is observed that people with dental agenesis already have pre-established genetic alterations, which acts as a facilitator of the development of cancer.