Bioteeth: Scientists Discover New Way to Create Those Pearly Whites

Rebecca Lewis March 11, 2013

Using a new approach, dentists may one day be able to replace missing teeth with stem cell-based implants, according to a new study.

Scientists at King’s College London have developed an entirely new method of replacing missing teeth using a bioengineered material produced by a person’s own gum cells. According to the researchers, current dental implants fail to generate a natural root structure. There’s also a possibility that loss of jaw bone could occur around the implant because of the friction from eating and jaw movement.

For their study, the researchers took epithelial cells from human gum tissues and combined them with mesenchyme cells to grow a new tooth. The mesenchyme cells act as ‘stimulators’, inducing the epithelial cells to start growing into a tooth. Using the new method, scientists were able to grow hybrid human teeth that had viable roots.

But it’s going to take more years before the new procedure can be used in clinics, the researchers reported. Moreover, it can be a very expensive and impractical dental implanting technique. According to them, the next step would be to find an easily accessible human mesenchyme cells and grow enough amount of them to be used in treatments. Prof Paul Sharpe, the lead author and an expert in craniofacial development and stem cell biology at King’s College, said mesenchyme cells can be extracted from the pulp of wisdom teeth, but the main challenge is getting enough of them to supply the need for bioteeth.

“We are now working to try and identify a simple way of getting mesenchyme."

Another challenge before this groundbreaking approach could be used is developing a way to culture adult human mesenchyme cells so they could induce tooth-growing cells, because currently, they can only use embryonic mesenchyme cells from mice.

Prof Sharpe and his team hope that soon, the new method will be used to replace the not-very impressive dental implants being used in clinical practice today.

The study was published in the Journal of Dental Research.

Source of this article:

Researchers grow teeth from gum cells