Risk factors for the development of dental agenesis

Introduction: dental agenesis is a disease characterized by the non-formation of some dental pieces, most frequently the lack of molars and upper lateral incisors. It affects not only the esthetics of people but also physiological processes such as feeding, so controlling the risk factors becomes a necessity. Objective: to describe the risk factors for dental agenesis. Method: a review of the literature was carried out in databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Cinhal and SciELO using the terms: hypodontia and anodontia, and their combination using the AND and OR operators and applying a temporal selection filter of the last 5 years. Results: this pathology is divided into: anodontia, oligodontia, hypodontia; it can also be classified as syndromic and non-syndromic. According to some studies it can be caused by environmental risk factors, which trigger genetic elements, with involvement of PAX9, EDA, EDAR and MSX1 genes, product of a side effect of some medication ingested by the mother or also diseases such as Down Syndrome, and ectodermal dysplasia. Conclusions: there are several factors involved in dental agenesis, which include genetics, the existence of congenital diseases, interaction with the environment, and factors related to the habits and lifestyles of the parents. It is suggested that evolution is an influential factor in this phenomenon