Increased maternal stress during pregnancy may accelerate infants’ biological aging, leading to earlier tooth eruption and more teeth by the time a child turns 6 months old, according to a news release dated November 18.
Moreover, women with higher salivary stress hormone levels tended to have infants with more erupted teeth, according to the release.
"Here we show that a mother's higher levels of stress-related hormones, particularly of cortisol, during late pregnancy are associated with the earlier eruption of primary teeth in her infant," Ying Meng, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Rochester School of Nursing in New York, said in the release.
Children’s first set of teeth forms around the sixth week of gestation and erupt between 6 months and 3 years of age. However, this timing varies based on genetics, health, and nutrition. Researchers have identified maternal stress during pregnancy as an additional factor that can speed tooth eruption, according to the release.
The research team studied 142 socioeconomically disadvantaged pregnant women enrolled at the University of Rochester Medical Center between 2017 and 2022. Each woman provided saliva samples in late pregnancy so levels of six hormones, including cortisol, could be measured. All babies were born full term and attended multiple clinic visits, where dentists recorded erupted teeth.
Children showed wide variation in tooth eruption patterns, with some experiencing sudden spurts and others showing steady progress. Mothers with higher cortisol levels had infants with more erupted teeth by 6 months, averaging four more teeth than those whose mothers had the lowest cortisol levels, according to the release.
However, further research is needed to determine how accelerated eruption relates to biological aging and what this means for a child’s overall health.
"These results are further evidence that prenatal stress can speed up biological aging in children,” Meng said. “Premature eruption of teeth could thus serve as an early warning sign of an infant's compromised oral development and overall health, associated with socioeconomic deprivation and prenatal stress."
