London: Scientists have for the first time successfully managed to grow real teeth from scratch generated from a person’s own gum cells.
Current implant-based methods of whole tooth replacement fail to reproduce a natural root structure and as a consequence of the friction from eating and other jaw movement, loss of jaw bone can occur.
In the latest breakthrough, the researchers isolated adult human gum (gingival) tissue from patients at the Dental Institute at King’s College London, grew more of it in the lab, and then combined it with the cells of mice that form teeth (mesenchyme cells).
By transplanting this combination of cells into mice, the researchers were able to grow hybrid human/ mouse teeth containing dentine and enamel, as well as viable roots.
The research, published in the Journal of Dental Research, describes the first major advance in efforts to develop a method to replace missing teeth with new bioengineered teeth.
Professor Paul Sharpe, an expert in craniofacial development and stem cell biology at King’s College London’s Dental
Institute
who led the research, said, “Epithelial cells derived from adult human gum tissue are capable of responding to tooth inducing signals from embryonic tooth mesenchyme in an appropriate way to contribute to tooth crown and root formation and give rise to relevant differentiated cell types, following in vitro culture. These easily accessible epithelial cells are thus a realistic source for consideration in human biotooth formation.”
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