“Bad teeth provide a unique timeline of childhood,” says Dr. Sinov Stokke-Jensen from the University of Bergen.
“It preserves information from pregnancy and early childhood that cannot be captured retrospectively by other methods. This allows us to investigate environmental exposures during sensitive developmental periods in unprecedented detail.”
Using data and biological samples from the Norwegian Mother-Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and the MoBaTooth Biobank, the world’s largest primary tooth biobank, Stokke Jensen’s doctoral research shows that primary teeth can serve as a detailed biological archive of exposures that occur during critical stages of human development. This discovery opens new opportunities for researchers to study how environmental factors influence children’s health and neurodevelopment.
The dissertation summarizes three studies that investigated biomarkers measured in human primary teeth.
Initial studies established reference levels for a wide range of trace elements in children’s primary teeth and demonstrated that tooth dentin can be used to reconstruct exposure patterns from prenatal to early childhood.
A second study showed a strong relationship between maternal lead levels during pregnancy and lead levels stored in children’s baby teeth. The results of this study confirm that primary teeth can provide a reliable record of fetal exposure to environmental pollutants.
A third study investigated trace element patterns in children with and without autism spectrum disorders, which identified differences in specific exposure profiles during prenatal and early childhood, highlighting the potential of dental biomarkers as tools to investigate environmental influences on neurodevelopment.
Taken together, these studies demonstrate the scientific value of primary teeth as biomarkers in epidemiological studies. Teeth develop in layers, like three rings, and are very stable, preserving a chronological record of exposure to both essential nutrients and environmental pollutants during critical developmental periods.
The study is based on samples from the MoBaTooth Biobank, the world’s largest collection of naturally shed baby teeth linked to comprehensive health and environmental data.
These findings strengthen the role of primary teeth as an innovative research tool for understanding how the early childhood environment shapes lifelong health. ”
Dr. Synnove Stokke Jensen, University of Bergen
Dr. Synnove Stokke Jensen presented and defended the following paper: Biomarkers in human primary teeth in epidemiological studiesat the University of Bergen, Norway. The primary supervisor was Professor Kristin S. Klock, leader of the MoBaTooth biobank. The dissertation is available here: https://nva.sikt.no/registration/019b22068f9d-481f3c72-df44-4826-941c-021240ae42a7
