Embedded Dental Cortisol Content: A Pilot Study

Objective: This study tests the feasibility and validity of analyzing cortisol levels within human teeth and the possibility of any potential gender differences. Methods: As a precursor, to confirm the general presence and existence of cortisol within teeth, six healthy supernumerary teeth were initially extracted and examined following the ELISA method. After confirming that cortisol was in fact present within human teeth, we began the main experiment. In order to examine any potential gender differences, twenty-one extracted wisdom teeth were collected from subjects (11 male and 10 female) within the age range of 27-29 yrs. Results: The results showed irrefutable proof of the existence of cortisol within the dentin of the teeth. Observations revealed that gender had no significant impact upon a subject’s dental cortisol levels (p>0.05), suggesting that cortisol in teeth can be used as an unbiased and reliable means of studying stress. Conclusions: This is the first report on extraction and analysis of cortisol levels in hard tissues, such as teeth, leading to the discovery of a novel biomarker that can be used when studying chronic stress. Practical application of this study can be used postmortem to assess cortisol levels in patients suffering from prolonged disorders, including patients having undergone chemotherapy treatments, when hair cortisol analysis proved to be problematic.