Eruption of teeth and connection with the psychosocial stages of human development
Excerpt from my book “What the teeth say about us | The holistic dimension of dentistry”. Soon available in English.
Our teeth make up a very sophisticated system. As they are rich in neurons connected to the brain, they are a vital source of information, for example, the eyes. The teeth are related to the stages of the psychosocial development of human beings they emerge at specific periods during our life, and their pathologies and disharmonies reflect our character, defences and inner conflicts.
According to Erik Erikson, whose views have their starting point in the psychoanalytic theory, personality changes throughout a person’s life. Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was born in Germany.
In 1927 he met in Vienna with Freud’s group and especially with his daughter, Anna Freud, and became a member of the psychoanalytic society, specializing in child psychoanalysis. Erikson posits that the individual’s personality goes through certain psychosocial stages of development. Each step is characterized by a crisis or conflict that the individual must successfully overcome to continue the smooth development of his personality.
The prenatal experiences of the fetus hold an important place in the child’s development, as they are responsible for both his emotional, social, and cognitive development. The psychosomatic state of the mother is essential for the baby’s psychology. Prenatal psychology is a multidimensional science that examines a person’s intrauterine experience and investigates its impact on their life.
Furthermore, it reveals everything that has been recorded in his consciousness from conception to the end of breastfeeding (about 3-4 years), decisively determining his behaviour as an adult, his physical health, his mental balance, the quality of the relationships that it also outlines the course of his evolution as a human being.
Oral health, in general, is the result of a delicate balance of complex mechanisms interacting with the environment. Embryologically, the oral mucosa originates from the ectoderm and contributes to digestion and maintaining homeostasis in the oral cavity. During the 8th fetal week, the maxillary process will develop the upper border of the mouth, the upper jaw, the zygomatic bone, the intermaxillary bone, part of the temporal bone, the teeth and the surrounding soft tissues. From the mandibular process, also called Meckel’s cartilage, the lower jaw, the teeth, and the surrounding soft tissues develop.
All emotional imbalances during human development impact general and oral health, as well as the eruption and development of teeth, and are responsible for the pathological conditions that appear on the teeth. Below, follow the periods of psychosocial development of man and their correspondence with the period of appearance of teeth in the mouth.
