“Regrowing teeth” project: A research team succeeded in cultivating tooth germs from pulp cells and thus allowing teeth to grow back naturally.
Third teeth that grow back naturally
One article claims a dentist grew new teeth in just 9 weeks.
Researchers managed to regrow teeth.
It's about the following article, which reports on a dentist who grew new teeth in 9 weeks:
Bye bye dental implants! Dentist grows new teeth in just 9 weeks
The fact check
Research into natural dental implants is not all that new. Ten years ago, the media reported on scientists from Japan and France who had allowed third teeth to grow in the jaws of animals. These were grown from the stem cells of embryos. At the time, however, it was said that it would take years before the method could be used in everyday life.
The topic became really interesting again in 2019 , when a Berlin research team came up with a different approach. As part of a doctoral thesis at the Institute for Medical Biotechnology at the TU Berlin, Dr. Jennifer Rosowski together with Dr. Roland Lauster the regrowing teeth project .
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The researchers used a special culture to generate tooth germs in the laboratory from the so-called pulp cells of extracted wisdom teeth. It was also possible for these tooth germs to interact with gum cells - just as is the case during embryonic tooth development. This gives the research team an enormous competitive advantage over others who grow tooth germs from embryonic stem cells.
“This actually rules out the real application of the procedure, as the use of stem cells is highly ethically controversial and not legally permitted in most countries. On the other hand, we would only use cell material from the patient's own teeth.
In this way, we avoid all ethical and legal concerns and have the decisive advantage that in the case of real use it is the body's own tissue: the new tooth would therefore not cause a rejection reaction."
explains Dr. Jennifer Rosowski.
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It will be some time before conventional implants and prostheses are actually replaced by the first growing teeth. After all in-vitro tests have been successfully completed, the first preclinical tests are now underway.
How long it takes for an individual tooth to grow back is not mentioned.
Conclusion:
As futuristic and unbelievable as the whole thing sounds: yes! Research has been carried out for decades on a way to actually allow teeth to grow back “almost by themselves”.
Dr. Roland Lauster and his team have even patented their method worldwide. Nevertheless, it remains exciting to see whether there will actually be an implementation suitable for everyday use in the next few years and how long the teeth really need to grow back.
Related to the topic: A bag full of poison for the toothpaste? (fact check)
Further sources: Tagesspiegel , scinexx
Article image: Shutterstock / Sangchai Olanrittinun
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )