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No one is certain what causes Harvard Medical School.
6 the NNL to form, says Dunn, Mountain is now a postdoctoral
but it’s possible that a mother research fellow at Maine Medical
teeth are forming. Thicker stress experiencing anxiety or depression Center Research Institute. Zhu
lines are thought to indicate more may produce more cortisol, the is now a doctoral student at the
stressful life conditions. “stress hormone,” which interferes Harvard T.H. Chan School of
with the cells that create enamel. Public Health.
Dunn developed a hypothesis Systemic inflammation is another
that the width of one variety in candidate, says Dunn, who hopes Story Source:
particular, called the neonatal to study how the NNL forms. And Materials provided by University of
line (NNL), might serve as an if the findings of this research can Bristol. Note: Content may be edited
indicator of whether an infant’s be replicated in a larger study, she for style and length.
mother experienced high levels believes that the NNL and other
of psychological stress during tooth growth marks could be used Journal Reference:
pregnancy (when teeth are already in the future to identify children who 1. Rebecca V. Mountain, Yiwen
forming) and in the early period have been exposed to early life Zhu, Olivia R. Pickett, Alexandre
following birth. adversity. “Then we can connect A. Lussier, Jill M. Goldstein,
those kids to interventions,” says Joshua L. Roffman, Felicitas B.
To test this hypothesis, Dunn Dunn, “so we can prevent the onset Bidlack, Erin C. Dunn. Association
and two co-lead authors -- of mental health disorders, and do of Maternal Stress and Social
postdoctoral research fellow that as early on in the lifespan as Support During Pregnancy With
Rebecca V. Mountain, PhD, and we possibly can.” Growth Marks in Children’s
data analyst Yiwen Zhu, MS, who Primary Tooth Enamel. JAMA
were both in the Psychiatric and Dunn is also an associate Network Open, 2021; 4 (11):
Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit professor of Psychiatry at e2129129 DOI:
at the time of the study -- led a team
that analysed the teeth. The width
of the NNL was measured using
microscopes. Mothers completed
questionnaires during and shortly
after pregnancy that asked about
four factors that are known to affect
child development: stressful events
in the prenatal period, maternal
history of psychological problems,
neighbourhood quality (whether
the poverty level was high or it was
unsafe, for instance), and level of
social support.

Several clear patterns emerged.
Children whose mothers had
lifetime histories of severe
depression or other psychiatric
problems, as well as mothers who
experienced depression or anxiety
at 32 weeks of pregnancy, were
more likely than other kids to have
thicker NNLs. Meanwhile, children
of mothers who received significant
social support shortly after
pregnancy tended to have thinner
NNLs. These trends remained
intact after the researchers
controlled for other factors that
are known to influence NNL width,
including iron supplementation
during pregnancy, gestational age
(the time between conception and
birth) and maternal obesity.

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