Identifying a Population to Relate Coincident Psychosocial and Enamel Profiles

Objectives: Early life stress exposure, socioeconomic status and non-nutritive childhood environments, are linked to adverse adult physical and behavioral health trajectories. An objective immutable record of childhood stressors could be invaluable in identifying vulnerable individuals. Purpose: to identify a population that could be used to relate third molar tooth enamel to psychosocial profiles during its development for use as a biomarker for a person's stress history from ~7-12 years of age.
Methods: An archive of deidentified histological slides of extracted third molars, questionnaires covering childhood adversity and psychologic status at the time of wisdom tooth extraction (180 questions), and 2 supplemental questionnaires covering childhood stressful events Peritraumatic Autonomic Symptoms Scale (PASS), and Peritraumatic Dissociative Experience Questionnaire (PDEQ) (14 and 10 questions) of 305 US army soldiers, created under IRB approval for studying PTSD at the Honolulu VA, was investigated. Relevant questions were identified; data abstracted and analyzed; slides were examined at 40x+ using transmitted polarized light and analyzed.
Results: Complete datasets representing 121 individuals were identified. The mean years of parental education was 15, SD 3, range 7-23. Childhood family income was low 9%, low-middle 22%, middle 38%, upper-middle 24% and high 6%. One-hundred-two individuals experienced stressful events during the time of wisdom tooth enamel formation. PASS, and PDEQ scores for those events were: mean 15, SD 13, range 1-52, and mean 15, SD 5, and range 1-10, respectively. The incidence of complete Wilson bands, both sides of the tooth, extending from DEJ to tooth surface was 12%, and an additional 54% met 1+ of the Rose (1979) criteria, indicative of altered ameloblast function.
Conclusions: The identified population had sufficient range in childhood environments, stressful events, and abnormal enamel histology, for use in relating coincident psychosocial and enamel histological profiles, for future definition and validation of a biomarker.