By using databases that organize and index such biological information, scientists and clinicians can better understand health and disease.
In addition to inorganic components, there are organic components such as proteins and carbohydrates within it, and the outer layer of calculus is always covered with viable plaque.īioinformatics, as related to genetics and genomics, is a scientific subdiscipline that involves using computer technology to collect, store, analyze and disseminate biological data and information, such as DNA and amino acid sequences or annotations about those sequences. Calculus is formed by mineral salts, and it has been reported that the main crystal form of calculus is calcium phosphate, including octacalcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, whitlockite and dicalcium phosphate dihydrate ( Gron et al., 1967). It can be divided into supragingival calculus and subgingival calculus according to the location of deposition above or below the boundary of the gingival margin ( Akcalı and Lang, 2018). This review summarizes a new role of dental calculus as a repository of bioinformation, with potential use in the prediction of oral diseases, systemic diseases, and even anthropology.ĭental calculus is the plaque and sediment that has calcified or is calcifying on the tooth surface or prosthodontic body. Through the study of environmental debris in dental calculus, an overview of an individual’s historical dietary habits and information about the environment, individual behaviors and social culture changes can be unveiled. Thus, dental calculus has been proposed to play a role as biological data storage for detection of molecular markers of latent health concerns. Additionally, pathogenic factors of systemic diseases were found in dental calculus, including bacteria, viruses and toxic heavy metals. Molecular information representing an individual’s contemporary oral health status could be detected in dental calculus. Our review focuses on the role of dental calculus as a repository and discusses the bioinformation recently reported to be concealed in dental calculus from three perspectives: time-varying oral condition, systemic diseases, and anthropology at various times. Dental calculus has long been considered as a vital contributing factor of periodontal diseases.
0 kommentar(er)
