Twin studies have provided insight into the genetic control of primary tooth eruption during childhood. The ‘Dental Development and Oral Health of Australian Twins and Their Families’ was a longitudinal study of 98 sets of twins of European ancestry aged between 1 and 3 years of age that aimed to assess the degree to which variation in tooth eruption was due to genetic factors. Although there was no statistically significant difference in eruption times between zygosity and the sexes, there was strong genetic control with regard to the timing of primary incisor eruption with an estimated heritability of ∼ 82 to 94% in males, and 71 to 96% in females (2).
