A 2021 study suggests it may be linked. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that children from lower-income families and children who had more adverse childhood experiences tended to get their first permanent molars earlier. It's an association, not proof of cause, and the researchers stress that the timing of a child's molars says nothing useful about that individual child. For parents, nothing about routine dental care changes.
What did the study look at?
The researchers wanted an inexpensive, early sign of whether stress speeds up a child's development. Earlier puberty is a known marker, but it comes too late to be much help. In other primates, the timing of molar eruption tracks the length of childhood, so the team looked at teeth.
They started with 117 children aged 4 to 7 who were already in brain-imaging studies at Penn. The MRI scans happened to show the developing molars clearly. Working with Penn Dental Medicine, the team rated how far each first permanent molar had come in, then compared those ratings with family income and the number of adverse childhood experiences each child had, after accounting for age and sex.
To check the result, they repeated the income analysis with 1,973 children in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a national U.S. dataset.
What did they find?
In the Penn group, both lower family income and more adverse childhood experiences were linked with earlier eruption of the first permanent molars.
In the national dataset, the link between lower income and earlier molars held up.
The team also saw differences by race, which they said need further study.
What are the study's limits?
The first group was small and came from one city. The national dataset measured teeth differently and could only test income. Most importantly, the study shows that two things tend to occur together across groups of children. It doesn't show that stress causes earlier molars, and it can't predict anything for a single child. The researchers were clear that parents shouldn't worry, or feel reassured, based on when their child's molars arrived.
What does this mean for your child's teeth?
First permanent molars usually come in around age six, behind the last baby teeth, and children often don't notice them. Whenever they arrive, they need the same care:
Brush them twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. They sit far back and are easy to miss.
Ask your child's dentist whether sealants make sense once the molars are in. The deep grooves on these teeth are where many childhood cavities start.
Keep up regular dental visits.
If you'd like more on what teeth can record about early life, read about growth marks in baby teeth. For young children's care in general, see our parent's guide to early childhood dental problems.
Sources
McDermott CL, Hilton K, Park AT, et al. Early life stress is associated with earlier emergence of permanent molars. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118(24):e2105304118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2105304118. Retrieved via PubMed (PMID 34103399).
Penn Today. A link between childhood stress and early molars. June 7, 2021. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
About the author. CJ Henley, DMD, is a general dentist in Jacksonville whose practice focuses on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, dental implants and dental care around head and neck cancer. Meet Dr. Henley.
CJ Henley, DMD, PA · 3675 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32207 · 904-398-1549
Updated October 2026.