HEREDITARY FACTORS
Although parents of children with excessive or rampant caries tend to blame the condition on hereditary factors or tendencies, and some scientific evidence, as reviewed in Chapter 6, acknowledges certain genetic influences on the caries process, most authors agree that genetic influences on dental caries are relatively minor in comparison with the overall effect of environmental factors. The fact that children acquire their dietary habits, oral hygiene habits, and oral microflora from their parents makes dental caries more an environmental than a hereditary disease. Although several hereditary factors identified in Chapter 6may be influential in promoting or preventing dental caries activity, available effective preventive therapies along with proper dietary and plaque control measures can override the hereditary factors that contribute to caries development.