DT News - India - Children’s teeth can reveal whether they were exposed to high stress in their early years

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 26 June 2019

save

WASHINGTON, U.S.: Exfoliated teeth, one of the few tissues in our body that record the history of environmental insults, are turning out to be a promising biomarker for modern medicine. The researchers at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington showed the emerging evidence that teeth can reveal stress levels of patients.

The most critical finding is that children’s teeth can reveal whether they were exposed to high stress in their early years. At the AAAS meeting, Dr. W. Thomas Boyce, Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, showed that the individual layers of tooth enamel would be thinner and less dense if exposed to stress, which would make the teeth prone to develop cavities. These structural changes in the enamel layers can be measured by studying a primary tooth in a 3-D model based on a radiograph.

The childhood stress might come from excessive demands at school as well as from stressful parental relationships. Even other factors like constant noise, physical and/or mental abuse etc. can play a role and cause stress. Individuals who experience increased levels of stress produce greater amounts of cortisol, the stress hormone, the concentration of which can be measured in the blood and saliva.

“But, of course, what we really want and what we are really after and what these snapshots fail to show is total cortisol exposure,” said Dr. Boyce about its limitation. Hence, examining the actual teeth can reveal exactly this, as cortisol influences the development of teeth.

The presentation, titled “Social disparities in child oral health: Interactions between stress and pathogens,” was presented on Feb. 15, 2019, in a scientific session at the Annual Meeting of the AAAS.

Tags:

To post a reply please login or register

Impart Edu celebrates 12 years with their first symposium

Dental Tribune South Asia interviewed Drs. Ali Tunkiwala and Udatta Kher – the founders of Impart Education (IE) about their upcoming event “Shaping ...

Ancient dental plaque reveals dietary habits of early human species

YORK, UK/BARCELONA, Spain: Based on their study of dental plaque from Europe’s oldest hominin, scientists have concluded that the region’s ...

How early you should start preparing for an overseas dental career – Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we examined how dental students can begin preparing early to establish a global-ready profile. In Part 2, we focus on interns, ...

How early you should start preparing for an overseas dental career – Part 1

This article series is designed to help dental students and professionals navigate the path to an international dental career with clarity and confidence. ...

Can we use the word “permanent” when it comes to what we do in dentistry?

As we all know, dentistry is dedicated to understanding the workings of the oral cavity, the maxillomandibular relationship, the repair of tooth decay, the ...

Survey reveals the impact of a good smile and healthy teeth on self confidence and well-being

BLOOMFIELD, Conn., U.S: A new study published by Cigna, a worldwide health services organization, helps confirm the connection between oral health and ...

Teeth within an hour: A ticking time bomb

In my lecture at this year’s EAO meeting, attendees received an overview of over 50 years of working with implants and why we did it in certain ways back ...

A less destructive method to whiten teeth developed in China

NANCHANG, China: Social media adverts for whitening products show celebrities flaunting their pearly whites, putting pressure on consumers to conform to the...

How open architecture CAD/CAM can benefit your practice

ChairsideCAD, available from exocad, is the choice of software for leading manufacturers of dental CAD/CAM systems, according to the company, and it has ...

Education

Live webinar
Thu. 11 September 2025
10:30 pm IST (New Delhi)