prenatal stress

For most parents, the arrival of the first milk tooth is a milestone celebrated with photos and maybe a little bit of teething-ring relief. Usually, this happens around six months of age. However, new research suggests that if a baby’s teeth start “erupting” much earlier, it might be telling a deeper story about the mother’s pregnancy. A first-of-its-kind study from the University of Rochester, published in Frontiers in Oral Health, has found that high levels of maternal stress hormones during pregnancy are linked to the earlier appearance of baby teeth. The Study: Monitoring Stress and Smiles Researchers followed a group of 142 mothers from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds between 2017 and 2022. To understand the biological environment of the womb, the team measured six different hormones in the mothers’ saliva during their second and third trimesters, including the well-known stress hormone, … Read more