One undeniable reality of human existence is the inevitability of being judged based on your physical appearance. Factors such as your weight, height, skin color, hairstyle, and noticeable facial features like your smile can affect other people’s perception of you. People tend to automatically form notions about you and your personality just by observing your appearance.
Like if you possess a set of great-looking teeth, the kind that celebrity dentists showcase on their social media, you are most likely to leave a positive and friendly impression on others. Or if you have the face, height, and weight of high-fashion models, your attractiveness is bound to be perceived favorably. But no matter how you look, be it pretty or plain, you will be observed and judged.
Of all the factors previously mentioned, weight tends to have the most damaging impact on how other people perceive you. Weight–particularly weight gain, being overweight, and obesity–is often associated with negative ideologies. Having excess weight is always unfairly linked with low competence, low intelligence, laziness, lack of self-control, and unattractiveness.
Weight is a popularly researched topic in psychology, and it is also widely explored in health and medical sciences. A recent study published in Communications Medicine analyzed the link between weight gain and dental biorhythm–the body’s biological clock, visualized through growth lines on the tooth enamel. Just like trees with their annual rings, human teeth also have daily lines that serve as markers of our growth and metabolism.
The team of international researchers, led by Dr. Patrick Mahoney from the University of Kent’s School of Anthropology and Conservation, who conducted this study discovered that the biorhythm in primary molars or milk teeth is directly linked to weight gain during early adolescence. They noted that a faster dental biorhythm of five or six-day cycles caused smaller weight gain. Conversely, a slower dental biorhythm of seven or eight-day cycles resulted in the most weight gain, with participants being six times more likely to have high body mass indices. To put it simply, faster biorhythm meant faster metabolism and vice versa.
The research is considered the first of its kind, since it investigated the relationship between dental markers of biorhythm and weight gain, which has not yet been done in the past. Also, through this study, the researchers proved that biological information found in milk teeth can indicate a person’s predisposition to weight gain or eventual obesity during early adolescence. The study also paves the way for using dental biorhythm information in baby teeth as a means of determining weight gain tendencies among adults.