Maternal Stress May Speed Up Baby’s Teething Process
For expectant mothers navigating the challenges of pregnancy, a new scientific discovery adds another reason to prioritize stress management. Research from the University of Rochester has revealed a fascinating connection between maternal stress levels during pregnancy and how quickly babies develop their first teeth. While most parents expect teething to begin between 6 months and 3 years of age, it appears that babies born to highly stressed mothers might reach this milestone significantly earlier than their peers.
The impact of stress during pregnancy has long been recognized as potentially problematic, with known links to high blood pressure, heart disease, and even premature birth—a leading cause of newborn mortality and disability. Now, this innovative study suggests that the stress hormone cortisol may accelerate dental development in infants. Researchers carefully tracked 142 pregnant women from disadvantaged backgrounds, collecting saliva samples during their second and third trimesters to measure stress-related hormones. After birth, their babies were brought in for regular dental check-ups over a two-year period, creating a comprehensive timeline of tooth eruption patterns. The results were striking: by the 6-month mark, infants whose mothers had shown the highest cortisol levels during late pregnancy had developed an average of four more teeth compared to babies of mothers with the lowest stress levels.
What makes this connection between maternal stress and early teething particularly interesting is the biological mechanism behind it. Cortisol, often called the “stress hormone,” affects far more than just our fight-or-flight response. According to Ying Meng, the study’s corresponding author and associate professor at the University of Rochester’s School of Nursing, elevated maternal cortisol during late pregnancy may fundamentally alter how a developing fetus processes minerals essential for bone and tooth development. “High maternal cortisol during late pregnancy may alter fetal growth and mineral metabolism, including the regulation of levels of calcium and vitamin D—both essential for mineralization of bone and teeth,” Meng explained. Cortisol also influences the activity of osteoblast and osteoclast cells, which are responsible for building up, shaping, and remodeling bone tissue throughout the body.
The Rochester team also discovered less pronounced but still notable relationships between other maternal hormones and teething patterns. Estradiol and testosterone levels in mothers correlated with a greater number of baby teeth at the 1-year mark, while progesterone and testosterone showed connections to tooth counts at 2 years. Even the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine demonstrated links to dental development at 18 and 24 months. These findings suggest that the hormonal environment a baby experiences before birth may have lasting effects on developmental timing that extend well into early childhood. While the exact mechanisms behind these connections require further study, the patterns observed were consistent enough to suggest that maternal hormonal profiles could serve as predictors of developmental timing in multiple bodily systems.
For new parents, the practical implications of this research are worth considering. While early tooth eruption isn’t typically a cause for medical concern, it may bring unexpected challenges. Babies who begin teething sooner might experience discomfort earlier than anticipated, leading to irritability, disrupted sleep patterns, and feeding difficulties before parents are prepared for this developmental phase. The research team suggests that healthcare providers might want to discuss stress management techniques with pregnant women not only for the mother’s wellbeing but potentially for moderating developmental timing in their infants as well. Simple stress reduction practices like mindfulness meditation, gentle exercise, adequate rest, and social support could potentially influence how a baby’s development unfolds after birth.
Though this study opens an intriguing window into how maternal experience affects infant development, the researchers acknowledge that many questions remain. As Meng noted, “We still have key questions that need answering. For example, which maternal hormones or downstream developmental pathways drive the change in the timing of tooth eruption, what the exact relationship is between accelerated eruption of teeth and biological aging and development, and what such speeding up says about a child’s general health.” The research team plans to continue investigating whether early teething serves as an indicator of accelerated development in other bodily systems and whether these patterns have long-term health implications. Published in Frontiers in Oral Health, this study adds to our growing understanding of the profound connections between maternal well-being during pregnancy and the developmental trajectories of their children, highlighting once again the importance of supporting expectant mothers through this crucial life stage.
