We All Have Deep Grooves

I remember taking my son to one of his six-month dental checkups when he was a toddler. I wasn’t expecting much. Just a normal cleaning and a quick update on how everything was going. We thought we were doing everything mostly right. Brushing regularly. Limiting juice. Cutting back on sugar and definitely no sugar before bedtime.

The dentist looked at me and said,

“I’m seeing a cavity.”

I blinked.

What? How? No way.

I swallowed my embarrassment and immediately felt like I had failed my child. Maybe that sounds extreme, but at that moment, it felt real.

I really thought I was doing everything right. I was paying attention. I was determined he wouldn’t have the same dental issues I had—the fillings, the crowns, the root canals.

The dentist must have seen the guilt flash across my face.

She paused and said softly,

“He has deep grooves in the back of his molars. It’s genetic.”

At the time, I didn’t have clinical language for it, but I felt its truth. That moment made me think about how often this happens in life — how we mistake inherited structure for personal failure.

…………

In mental health, genetic predisposition works the same way as those molars.

You may inherit a vulnerability toward anxiety, mood disorders, trauma sensitivity, impulsivity, or addiction. Research consistently shows that many psychological conditions have genetic components – not destiny, but vulnerability.

I wrote a longer reflection on this idea here: https://open.substack.com/pub/drtracyhunt/p/deep-grooves?r=6osxih&utm\_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=app