The article discusses the prospects and challenges of using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in oral health research. It highlights the historical context of oral health genetics, emphasizing the heritability of dental conditions such as caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, and orofacial clefts. The introduction explains how GWAS, enabled by advancements in biotechnology and bioinformatics, has become a powerful tool for identifying novel genetic variants associated with these conditions. The authors detail the GWAS process, from participant recruitment and phenotype data collection to genotyping, data cleaning, and statistical analysis. They emphasize the exploratory nature of GWAS, which aims to generate hypotheses rather than test them, and the importance of considering weak effect sizes, genetic heterogeneity, and population substructure. The article also addresses the limitations of GWAS, including the "missing heritability" issue, and suggests strategies for overcoming these challenges, such as deep phenotyping, careful study design, and innovative analytical methods. Finally, the authors call for standardized practices and mega-consortia to enhance the power and impact of GWAS studies in oral health research.The article discusses the prospects and challenges of using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in oral health research. It highlights the historical context of oral health genetics, emphasizing the heritability of dental conditions such as caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, and orofacial clefts. The introduction explains how GWAS, enabled by advancements in biotechnology and bioinformatics, has become a powerful tool for identifying novel genetic variants associated with these conditions. The authors detail the GWAS process, from participant recruitment and phenotype data collection to genotyping, data cleaning, and statistical analysis. They emphasize the exploratory nature of GWAS, which aims to generate hypotheses rather than test them, and the importance of considering weak effect sizes, genetic heterogeneity, and population substructure. The article also addresses the limitations of GWAS, including the "missing heritability" issue, and suggests strategies for overcoming these challenges, such as deep phenotyping, careful study design, and innovative analytical methods. Finally, the authors call for standardized practices and mega-consortia to enhance the power and impact of GWAS studies in oral health research.