Mom Feels 'Something' at 3 Months Pregnant—Unprepared for What Doctors Find
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
When a mom from North Carolina felt something unusual in her gums just three months into her pregnancy, she brushed it off at first.
"I honestly thought it was a popcorn kernel stuck in there," Aisha Owens told Newsweek. "But then I remembered... I never ate popcorn."
The harmless sensation soon became harder to ignore. By her third trimester, something had unmistakably erupted through her gums.
Woman, 31, wearing white and red striped vest with seatbelt in car and recalling story for Instagram.
Woman, 31, wearing white and red striped vest with seatbelt in car and recalling story for Instagram.
@thats.soaisha
"It looked like a small, sharp tooth—almost like a tiny shark tooth," the 31-year-old said. "It popped up at the bottom of my mouth, right behind my front teeth."
It caused discomfort during meals, particularly when biting into apples or sandwiches, and made her feel like something out of a biology textbook.
Naturally, Owens made an appointment with her dentist, who was just as baffled.
"The nurses in the office were coming in one by one to take a look," Owens said. "When he took an X-ray, he told me it wasn't connected or rooted to anything, so even he had questions."
Dr. Jenna Chimon, DDS, lead cosmetic dentist at Long Island Veneers, told Newsweek that the phenomenon—while incredibly rare—is medically possible.
"What she's describing is what we call a supernumerary tooth, which is an extra tooth that sometimes forms in addition to the normal set," said Chimon. "They're usually detected in childhood but in rare cases, they can erupt later in life, especially if they were impacted or lying dormant in the jaw."
Hormonal shifts during pregnancy may have also played a role. "It's extremely rare for a supernumerary tooth to emerge during pregnancy, but it is possible that the hormonal changes contributed indirectly by affecting the surrounding tissues or bone," Chimon said.
"These changes could have allowed a previously dormant or impacted tooth to finally emerge."
Owens shared what happened to her in a reel on Instagram (@thats.soaisha), which has clocked up over a million views and likes.
Many users were slightly freaked out by the random tooth, which further cemented their reasons for not wanting children.
"Every time I feel a just a liiiiiittttttle bit less scared of pregnancy, I see s*** like this," one user wrote.
But other moms could relate, sharing their own stories of how pregnancy changed their bodies.
"My feet grew a half size and my hair texture changed. Pregnancy does so much to your body," another wrote.
Owens told Newsweek she wasn't expecting her clip to go viral. "But I'm so glad it's helping moms feel seen and supported through all the weird and wonderful parts of motherhood," she added.
Ultimately, the mystery tooth was extracted, and Owens is now recovering. As for what she'll do with the tooth? "Honestly, I'm not sure yet," she said. "Maybe I'll frame it."
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Do you have a question about Alzheimer's? Let us know via health@ Reference Agarwal, P., Agrawal, S., Wagner, M., Cherian, L. J., Aggarwal, N. T., James, B. D., Holland, T. M., Bennett, D. A., Barnes, L. L., Leurgans, S. E., & Schneider, J. A. (2025). MIND diet and hippocampal sclerosis among community-based older adults. JAMA Network Open, 8(8). Wilson, R. S., Yang, J., Yu, L., Leurgans, S. E., Capuano, A. W., Schneider, J. A., Bennett, D. A., & Boyle, P. A. (2019). Postmortem neurodegenerative markers and trajectories of decline in cognitive systems. Neurology, 92(8), e831–e840.
