Exploring Baby Teeth as Novel Biomarkers of Mental Health Risk
Mental disorders are among the most disabling health conditions worldwide. Yet, there remains a lack of valid, reliable, noninvasive, and inexpensive biomarkers to identify (at an early age) people who are at the greatest risk of experiencing a future mental health condition.
What if children’s baby teeth could be used alongside other promising biomarkers (like genetic, epigenetic, and neuroimaging tools) to guide prevention programming in psychiatry? Imagine if baby teeth could help identify children at high future risk for mental health problems, years before the onset of symptoms.
We are actively exploring the use of teeth as novel biomarkers of people’s exposure to early life stress and mental health risk. We are investigating teeth because they are a widely available biospecimen that don’t require any special storage protocols and are relatively easy to collect. Teeth have also not yet been studied as biomarkers in the field of mental health, even though the imprints of brain development may be recorded in teeth.
We think teeth may be a promising new tool for identifying mental health risk, including to identify sensitive periods in development. Teeth preserve a kind of “fossil record” of their growth and disruptions to that growth, like rings in a tree marking its age.
More information about our research using teeth is available on teethforscience.com.
Selected Publications on Teeth As Biomarkers
Mahoney, P., McFarlane, G., Loch, C., White, S., Floyd, B., Dunn, E.C., Pitfield, R., Nava, A, Guatelli-Steinberg, D. (2022). Dental biorhythm is associated with adolescent weight gain. Communications Medicine, 2, 99. DOI: 10.1038/s43856-022-00164-x.
Dunn, E.C., Mountain, R.V., Davis, K.A., Shaffer, I., Smith, A.D.A.C, Roubinov, D.S., Den Besten, P.K., Bidlack, F.B., & Boyce, W.T. (2022). Association between measures derived from children’s primary exfoliated teeth and psychopathology symptoms: Results from a community-based study. Frontiers in Dental Medicine, 3: 803364.
Mountain, R.V., Zhu, Y., Pickett, O.R., Lussier, A.A., Goldstein, J.M., Roffman, J.L., Bidlack, F.B. & Dunn, E.C.(2021). Association of maternal stress and social support during pregnancy with growth marks in children’s primary tooth enamel. JAMA Network Open, 4(11), e2129129. PMCID: PMC8579236. PMID: 34751761.
Parsons, C.L.B., Mountain, R.V., Bidlack, F.B., Lau, A., Troulis, M.J., & Dunn, E.C. (2021). The meaning and purpose of primary tooth disposal rituals: Implications for pediatric dental professionals. Frontiers in Dental Medicine, 2(44), 698144.
Davis, K.A, Mountain, R.V., Pickett, O., Den Besten, P.K., Bidlack, F.B., & Dunn, E.C. (2020). Teeth as potential new tools to measure early life adversity and subsequent mental health risk: An interdisciplinary review and conceptual model. Biological Psychiatry. 87(6), 502-513. PMCID: PMC7822497. PMID: 31858984.