I believe that the physical effects of emotion during adult life cause and exacerbate medical and dental problems.

Category 1 and 2 emotions manifest both mentally and physically (see Category 1 and 2 Emotions for details). During adult life, the mental manifestations come and go depending on the situation. Many of the physical manifestations, which affect virtually the entire body, persist chronically at a low level and exacerbate depending on the situation. Over time, this contributes to medical and dental problems.

Why the same illness manifests differently in different people:

Many of the symptoms associated with medical problems are caused, to some significant degree, by category 1 and 2 emotions triggered by the medical problem. Since people acquire different constellations of category 1 and 2 emotions during childhood, their reactions to medical problems (i.e. symptoms) differ similarly.

For example, I believe that the flu virus causes a person to "feel bad" and experience low energy because it stimulates those components of category 2 emotion. Different people will experience different intensities of these symptoms because they acquired different levels of those category 2 emotions during childhood.

Joint problems (See Physical Skill page for details)

Muscle units (MUs) in opposing joint muscles become connected during childhood and so that when one muscle contracts to move the joint, MUs in the opposing muscle also contract. This puts uneven pressure on the joint that may cause joint parts to wear out prematurely.

How dental issues can develop from childhood experience:

Chronic category 2 emotion from childhood experience (see above) may produce dry mouth, and sadness* often produces nasal secretions, both of which may contribute to dental problems. Chronic emotion from childhood experience also likely causes jaw clenching and grinding, which also contribute to dental problems.

*Sadness is separate from category 1 and 2 emotion and is acquired during childhood in a way that I may discuss in the future.