Maternal stress linked to the rate of infants’ baby tooth growth.

Maternal stress linked to the rate of infants’ baby tooth growth.

Sample: 142 mothers.

At the end of the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, each woman provided a saliva sample, which was tested for hormone levels. All children in the study were born full-term. Until the age of two, each child visited a clinic where dentists assessed their erupted baby teeth.

Shown: women with higher cortisol levels in their saliva gave birth to infants with more erupted teeth by six months. At this age, children of mothers with the highest cortisol levels had, on average, four more teeth than children of mothers with the lowest cortisol levels. Associations were found with other hormones, but they were weak. During pregnancy, 36.6% of the women were diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders; however, this diagnosis was not linked to hormone levels or the number of erupted teeth in their children.

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Link to an article.