It's good news for anyone with dentures.
Because dentists could grow human teeth within the next 20 years, experts predict.
Researchers from Tufts University have reported successfully growing human-like teeth in experiments with pigs.
The process involves harvesting cells from both human and pig teeth, combining them in a lab and 'expanding' them to form tooth tissue.
They were then implanted into the mouths of pigs, where they continued to grow.
Professor Pamela Yelick said that while the teeth are 'not perfect' in shape or size, the end product does closely resemble a natural tooth.
And while the science is not ready to be used in humans just yet, she hopes that advancements in the field will accelerate the ability to create new teeth.
Replacing rotten or broken teeth with the real thing instead of dentures or fake implants would help them fit better feel better and last longer, she added.
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| it's good news for anyone with dentures. because dentists could grow human teeth within the next 20 years, experts predict |
'I 100 per cent think regenerating human teeth can happen,' she told journalists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Boston.
'I believe we can do this in my lifetime and I'm in my mid-60s.
'There are so many advances happening in technology, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and dentistry, and they all feed off each other.'
Her study, recently published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine, successfully regrew human-like teeth in less than four months once they had been implanted.
Teeth fall out naturally with old age and half of Brits are missing 10 or more out of the natural 32 by the age of 75, data reveals.
Dr Yelick said lab-grown teeth would feel more natural than implants because they keep the nerves and blood circulation.
She said: 'We use cells from wisdom teeth that need to be extracted, and then expand them in the lab to tens of millions of cells.
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| dr yelick said lab-grown teeth would feel more natural than implants because they keep the nerves and blood circulation (stock image) |
'Then we can put them onto biodegradable scaffolds and get them to form tooth tissue.
'Even after taking the cells out, freezing them, thawing them and putting them back together they still remember what to do and how to form little tiny teeth.
'Then my strategy is to provide them with the right environment and let them do their thing.
'We probably need to get them started in the lab and then the best place would be directly in the mouth.'
Professor Yelick, from Tufts' School of Dental Medicine, has started a company called RegendoDent to launch her inventions.
The first is RegendoGel, a naturally grown tooth pulp that can be implanted in a root canal.
Instead of using standard cement, a dentist could fill the hollowed-out tooth with natural tooth pulp – a combination of nerves and blood vessels – to try and keep the tooth alive.
The company hopes this would prevent the damaged tooth from deteriorating further and eventually needing extraction.
'We're hoping we could make tooth roots that you could put a crown on that would fit properly with your bite,' Professor Yelick added.
'It might be resistant to caries or periodontitis so they could be therapeutic in addition to being functional.
'We're really thinking big.'
She said the firm has received interest from the US Department of Defense for treating soldiers who sustain facial injuries on the battlefield.
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