While the rabbits are still gloating about gene therapy to prevent clogged rabbit arteries the mice are are cheering development of the capability to grow replacement mouse teeth. Japanese researchers have successfully grown full teeth from stem cells in a mold and then transplanted the teeth into one month old mice. The teeth enabled the mice to chew and eat.
Here is the abstract from the Plos One research report. Note that you can read the full article for free.
Donor organ transplantation is currently an essential therapeutic approach to the replacement of a dysfunctional organ as a result of disease, injury or aging in vivo. Recent progress in the area of regenerative therapy has the potential to lead to bioengineered mature organ replacement in the future. In this proof of concept study, we here report a further development in this regard in which a bioengineered tooth unit comprising mature tooth, periodontal ligament and alveolar bone, was successfully transplanted into a properly-sized bony hole in the alveolar bone through bone integration by recipient bone remodeling in a murine transplantation model system. The bioengineered tooth unit restored enough the alveolar bone in a vertical direction into an extensive bone defect of murine lower jaw. Engrafted bioengineered tooth displayed physiological tooth functions such as mastication, periodontal ligament function for bone remodeling and responsiveness to noxious stimulations. This study thus represents a substantial advance and demonstrates the real potential for bioengineered mature organ replacement as a next generation regenerative therapy.
The significance here isn't just in the ability to grow teeth. The jaw responded to the teeth by growing supporting bone and nerves. The bone growth wasn't enough to restore full normal bone support. So there's still a need to develop methods to control bone growth. But the result suggests the potential to achieve full restoration of both bone and teeth after periodontal disease or trauma.
The era of regenerative medicine is drawing near.
| Share | | Randall Parker, 2011 July 25 11:54 PM Biotech Teeth And Gums |
Scenario, year 2024:
Someone snags a movie star's DNA (via hair root, lost tooth, etc.), and uses the DNA to grow body parts for commercial sale.
Imagine people proudly exhibiting their designer body parts, rather than tattoos.
Too much knowledge will make us long for ignorance.
The nice thing is, by the time this is perfected, my gold crown will be worth enough to pay for the new tooth.
leon - ZING! :)
PacRim - pft. Tell that to anyone with a busted body aching for a normal life. Tell that to the Iraq vet missing his legs, or the little girl minus a kidney.
These guys and gals are AWESOME!
eh...don't expect this to be any sooner than 20 years away.
Problems with teeth growing too fast, looseness, etc. will crop up.
20 years. No sooner. I even asked my dentist about this, and he said 20 years.
Heh. The ads above this article are for 'Dental Implants for just $2949'.
But TTT, does your dentist keep abreast of developments within regenerative medicine? If not, then the mere fact of his being a dentist does not make him the person to ask.
Still, even if it takes twenty years, or thirty, or forty (and I'm more worried about FDA roadblocks than practical ones, given that the teeth implanted in mice are operational) that's a mere blink of the eye as concerns humankind's history. We are on the brink of being able to replace our body parts when they wear out. That is INCREDIBLE. It is a turning point so momentous and significant for our species as to herald the dawn of a new era. I refuse to be in any way cynical about that.
Besides, at my age, twenty years is plenty soon enough. ;)
I'am sure there a long list of people waiting for these product to come to market, i was thinking of retraining moving from financial maths Msc to bio medical engineering. The profits from these new tools will be so great that its worth the change.
we are talking about a market with 4 billion customers, the profits are just unthinkable.
hi lillyroz, the original document is here,
http://www.stembook.org/node/697
Thanks Bamboo,
So you think that clinical trials will start this year or in 2012?
Is there an serious article which can confirm such an information?
It take a long time to start clinical trials. They started to talk about this in 2002 and now we are in 2011 and nothing really new has been done. Each year we can read an article which deal about this future technology like it was a discovery while it has been "discovered" years ago! It is frustrating, I really need dome hope!
hi lillyroz, i have followed this subject very closely for some years now. i watched the promise of UK based odontis fade away. it looks like the future belongs to either USA or Japan. i can't remember where i read the date of safety trials in humans, but i am sure Mao suggested 2011. there is further information here,
http://jdr.sagepub.com/content/89/8/842.long
it's a bit technical, but you can perhaps begin to understand the benefit of tooth regeneration using cell homing, rather than cell delivery.
i will post further information as it comes to light.
i have suffered tooth loss, eventually replacing two missing molars, upper right 6 and upper left 6 with implants for now. they seem relatively trouble free.
if given the choice now, i would opt for just one implant. less cost, and adequate, while we wait for stem cell research to develop.
there are some fantastic new dental products being developed at the current time and i believe many will make their way to market in due course.
Well, I really do hope that in the future you'll be able to regrow them.
I am losing them because of an accident and bruxism, and it is really depressing me, for I used to have a nice smile. I still have all my "real" teeth, but they won't survive very long, and I hope that for the time they'll have to come out, a new technique will be available. I don't know what to think anymore. Is it just scienfe-ficiton or can it bea reality? I am almost too afraid to hope.
I am only 20 years old, btw. so it is really destroying part of my life.
So, what do you think? Will they (the scientists) be able to make new teeth that look like the real ones we lost?
The main problem here is that they are still at the exact same stage as they were in 2002. Back then they were screwing around with pigs/rats & mice & teeth were grown.
Almost a decade later & nothing has advanced. Paul Sharpe has gone quiet since his claims back in 2004. He started up a company (Odontis) boasting this & that. Got a grant for almost half a million pounds & then nothing. Company is no longer even active!
The Japanese scientists have made a few breakthroughs but still can only create teeth in rodents via having to 'maturate' the teeth in a liver. Which is never, ever, ever gonna be practical on a human scale for multiple reasons.
That leaves the American team who are working with scaffolds & stem cells. The problem is they are still a long way away from even being able to create the dentin, enamel etc.
Even if they could grow them at will in rodents without needing to implant them into a liver etc, rats have different immune systems compared to humans. In short, they have wasted the best part of a decade & they are still nowhere near being able to regrow a fraction of a human tooth (nevermind the whole thing).
Am afraid we'll all be dead & buried by the time someone manages to do it & it won't be any of those mentioned above that finally does manage it!
hi jen and james, interesting views. really, for now, both of you should think of replacement teeth as not what you see in the mirror, but what lies beneath the gum line, ie, the root, bone and connective tissue etc. dentin and enamel can wait. replacement roots will come first, a 'natural' implant perhaps?. any dentist can then supply and fit crowns/caps that you need.
jen, why wont your teeth survive very long? are you brushing, flossing, using interdental brushes? are you visiting the dentist and hygienist at regular intervals?
james, why so negative? bio med research based companies are bound to fail. their patents continue and are taken up or advanced by other bio meds, or larger pharmaceutical co's
After my accident many front teeth needed root canal treatment, and others are broken. Root canal treated teeth aren't as healthy as others, and with the cracks some of them have...another bad luck incident could make them break (stone in salad or something). And I have to admit that it is not really nice to look at. I brush 3 times a day, use floss every night before going to bed. I visit my dentist every 6 months, which is covered by my insurance. But I also clench my teeth at night, which is certainly not helping for they are already fragile.
I really look after them, but it is a difficult situation for me.
And when I read comments like James, it sound perfectly logical to me that I will never see a regrown tooth in my lifetime, which I hope is still some time. I see mya freinds drinking sugary soda, eating hard chips or something and brushing once a day, with no problems..and I..well... that happens if you have a motorbike accident and crash with you mouth against the handlebars.
What do you think, bamboo? As far as I know, the problem is that they still can't create enamel, but they can create almost everything else? So, someday, they should be able to achieve a complet tooth?
But what about its structure? How does the body know how it is supposed to look? I don't understand that part. Would they look like real teeth? With molars, incissors etc.? Maybe I should do models now, so that they know how they used to look in my twenties xD
hi Anonymous, as far as i know, a root canalled tooth, correctly treated by an endodontist can last a lifetime. if the tooth is insufficient in some way, a cap, or crown can replace it, but the original root is the important part. this is what is replaced when implants are fitted.
if you clench your teeth, there are exercises you can do to reduce this. a chiropractor can provide treatment or speak to your dentist about having a mouth guard made.
developments in dentistry are likely to be gradual, but i think most problems will be overcome. i really look forward to the day when new filling materials will allow the tooth to regrow and i can replace amalgam. in the meantime we have to look after what we have as best as we can.
Anonymous, you might want to read the previous page. I have been researching and reading about this since 2004, and I have seen many works. Different groups have been able to achieve different mile stones. Some have created root along with connect bone and tissue, others have been able to create dentin and enamel in addition to the root, bone and connective tissue. Some groups have solved everything except size control.
All that's needed now is to merge techniques and test for safety. Animal trails have been done and perfected. Humans on the other hand are too precious to waste, so large trails must be done over number of years. Apparently, Columbia university is moving with human trails last quarter. of 2011. I even read a blog where a kid asked for an opinion because he qualified for a trail his university was conducting to regrow teeth and he wanted to know if he should take part. He did not name the university, and I read this over a year ago. I think some are quiet on purpose because they don't want anyone beating them to the bush. The first mover (who markets it first) will have huge advantages to recoup investment and profit fast.
Hang in there. This will come to fruition before you know it.
some interesting news here
thanks dude, looks very promising. link to the original research.
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/2359/filling_without_drilling
Anything new? I thought I hear that trial were starting 2012? Is that true?
I know we have to wait, but I want this so much =(
Found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbdIH2_Vh-s
They say that in 5 or 10 years it will be possible to have a third dentition. And without risks of rejection by the organism.
No news?
Hi
my first upper molar was removed about a week ago, I dont want an implant or bridge in my mouth.
I was thinking If the dentist can move my second molar to replace the first one, you think can be possible? Am I going to have more problems If I do that?
I feel very depressed :(
your life changes...
Thanks!
Cali
some news concerning potential usable stem cells derived from our own skin that could be used in regenerative dentistry
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-human-skin-yields-stem-cell-like.html
I am really disappointed, I came across an article (here:http://www.google.fr/#q=jeremy+mao+teeth&hl=fr&tbo=1&prmd=imvnso&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:w&sa=X&ei=g5X7TqrcFYSHhQeKtpDRAQ&ved=0CBEQpwUoAw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=79f5663e5c60692e&biw=1366&bih=667) and it seems that Jeremy Mao said that "teeth regeneration is still 'science fiction'", I really don't inderstand how it is possible he said that while he was VERY optimistic months/years ago. I don't know what to think anymore, if only they could start clinical trials now...
it is a shame its gone so quiet here but i can understand considering the amount of "false hopes" that we see and treatments that seem like they may never happen, all those here whose life has stood still due to dental problems i hear ya you are all in my thoughts
lillyroz, I'm not sure what article said that you read in December, but here's one that says Jeremy Mao has had quite a lot of success recently. It's dated Feb 21, 2012.
http://lyssova.com/new-york-dental-wellness-group/2012/02/stem-cell-dental-implants-grow-new-teeth-right-in-your-mouth/
Here's hoping!!
Hi Mary,
Actually the text for that link comes from a May 2010 article (the original Popular Science article can be viewed by clicking on the PopSci link above the text.) I was also hoping to hear of new developments since I first read it about two years ago... http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-05/new-technique-uses-bodys-stem-cells-regenerate-teeth
Is strange for me to have glanced over your posting and to think it said: here's one that says Jeremy LIN has had quite a lot of success recently. and thought the basketball player had actually gotten the regenerative tooth implant? =D
Steve
So there are no news? It seems strange, doesn't it, that last year there were a lot of articles and interviews while there is NOTHING in 2012!
Has anyone heard anything useful?
Maybe we need just to pray to jesus christ