Can kids’ teeth reveal emotional trauma? A new study suggests yes

Shonkoff, the Harvard researcher, said the development of unique biological measures of potential health risks, whether it be analysis of teeth, saliva, or other form, carries tremendous promise. But, he said, it should be used with caution.

“These biological measures need to be used by responsible people who know how to interpret them and explain them to parents,” he said. Otherwise, he said, there is potential for misuse or unintended consequences, such as losing health insurance.

“There is potential for harm by mislabeling or misclassifying, that puts kids in categories to make them disadvantaged by seeing them as higher risk,” he said. “We have to be vigilant in protecting against that.”

(And certainly kids who are minority / poor often will have a higher score on an ACE Screen and the ACE Score is being used as a proxy for a Biological Marker and this score could be even more inaccurate and subject to misuse as it is being recorded in an electronic medical record and will follow the kid wherever he goes for life - A widespread educational campaign for parents and the public on the effects of Attachment Trauma / ACEs —- Okay But a score in the chart, that isn’t needed and I agree with Dr. Shonkoff, one of the authors in the Policy Statement on Toxic Stress - It could do more harm and as physicians and child advocates, we shouldn’t be engaging in things that can harm kids. A social emotional screening and treatment for early social emotional delays fits with AAP policy on the first 1000 days, developmental screening fits in with pediatrics and takes pediatricians out of the role of social monitoring agents, a role we do not belong in.  If we aren’t careful, there is a tremendous potential that we will harm disadvantaged kids. ) 

And I could go on... If we don’t look at the exact mechanisms that creates toxic stress in the body and target that, what are we doing.  - is it lack of protection for the developing infant in the first year that leaves the HPA axis activated that causes the biological risk? Okay how do we target reversing that?  Does Neurofeedback target that? Does attunement between the child and caregiver? What targets the activated physiology and normalizes it.  ( I would say a felt sense of safety and security however that is accomplished - like safe food, water, cloths, housing, school, community, therapy that gets at trauma and dissociation with a good therapist who can attune, Neurofeedback for emotional regulation, body based therapies, TF-CBT only when the patient is ready to process left brain narrative).  This should be the target of intervention.... Not psyche drugs.  Psyche drugs used in moderation and for short term to reduce some symptoms while safety is established okay — but long term, only if we are certain there aren’t serious long term brain dysfunction from that.   The presentation that Robert Whitaker gave at van der Kolk’s Trauma conference this year was great and makes it imperative that worried doctors look at his presentation and then seek real answers to the possible dangers of these drugs in the developing brains of kids who have been traumatized.  Could these drugs be causing a Tardive dysphoria and be contributing at least to some degree to increased suicide ideation and completed suicides in kids? IDK but it is important to know. The information is out there. It needs to be studied.   Keep kids safe!!!! So I’m really worried that what we are doing has a huge potential to harm kids. I am sure there are people who are thinking about this somewhere, there has to be.     This video is just one example.  Can someone pick this up and crowdsource or something.  It needs to be brought to parents and I don’t want to talk anymore. I need to focus on me so someone PLEASE start looking at all of this in a coordinated way to keep kids safe.  I can’t do this anymore. Thanks. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x1NYmZxZL_g