No More Dentures? Scientists Discover Way to Regrow TeethMonday, 08 Jul 2013 04:48 PM
If you've suffered one-too-many root canals or dread losing teeth as
you age, you'll be pleased to know that both fears may soon be a
thing of the past. Scientists are making major advances in
treatments that will allow you to regrow both the soft living tissue
in teeth — eliminating cavities and the need for painful root canals
— and the actual structure of the tooth, which will allow you to
regrow teeth. All of these exciting breakthroughs will use your own
stem cells harvested from the pulp inside healthy teeth or from bone
marrow.
"This is a really exciting area with immense potential for
improvements in healthcare and maintenance of tooth vitality,"
professor Anthony Smith of the U.K.'s University of Birmingham told
Newsmax Health. "We're not talking about just one new treatment
approach, but a spectrum of approaches," he said.
Researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and South
Korea have been working on methods to manipulate stem cells into
producing pulp, the living tissue in teeth. The process, which has
been successful in the lab and is being tested on animals, could
eliminate the need for root canals in all but the most severe cases
of infection.
Currently, root canals involve removing decayed and infected tissue,
which includes the pulp and nerve in the tooth's root, then
disinfecting and sealing the tooth.
Some researchers are extracting stem cells from pulp, then
transplanting the cells back into the patient's tooth along with
proteins that encourage growth. Others focus on growing healthy new
pulp completely inside the tooth, either by using stem cell
technology to regenerate new growth or controlling the inflammation
that's the "root" of the problem. "Just in the same way as we see
natural wound healing in skin following a cut if the wound is kept
clean, similar responses can occur in the pulp of the tooth," says
Smith.
Researchers at the College of Dental Medicine at Nova Southeastern
University are developing a method to grow "real" replacement teeth.
The process extracts stem cells from inside a tooth or bone marrow
of the patient and then puts them on a polymer scaffold in the shape
of the tooth that's to be replaced. As the cells multiply and grow,
the scaffold dissolves. The teeth can be grown in the patient's
mouth, or in a lab and then inserted.
"It is difficult to place a specific time on this, but we're
probably looking at periods of weeks for the dental tissues to
naturally heal themselves or to be able to grow new teeth," says
Smith.
Professor Smith says that the greatest short-term research efforts
will probably be directed to saving the patients' own teeth.
"However, growing entire teeth is feasible, but will take much
longer to be introduced into clinical practice due to the complexity
of the task," he said.
The time frame for the varying techniques range from already being
used to a couple of decades away. "Some dentists are already trying
to stimulate the natural wound healing responses in the pulp by good
infection control," Smith said.
According to the American Dental Association, about 15.1 million
root canals take place each year. Government statistics show
that more than 10 percent of Americans aged 50 to 64 years of age
have no remaining natural teeth, and one-fourth of all U.S. adults
aged 65 and older have lost all of their teeth.
© 2013 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved. |