Posted 06.29.2010 at 2:57 pm
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Nano-tooth
Scientists used atomic force microscopy to show a hormone gel can stimulate tooth regeneration in rats.
ACS Nano
Scientists must really dread the dentist -- they're always coming up with new solutions to help people avoid that cursed drill. The latest: a hormone gel that regenerates tooth cells in as little as a month.
The gel, the first of its kind, could eliminate the need to fill cavities or drill into the root canal of an infected tooth, Discovery News reports. It is reported in the journal ACS Nano.
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Technology, Rebecca Boyle, dentistry, dentists, Drill, gel, human teeth, nanotech, teeth, tooth decayA dentist would place a dab of the gel near a cavity, where it would encourage cells to grow, healing the tooth from within. It contains a peptide called MSH, melanocyte-stimulating hormone, which has been shown to encourage bone regeneration.
A team of French scientists tested the gel on mice that had cavities. After about a month, the cavities had disappeared, according to Nadia Benkirane-Jessel, a scientist at the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale and a co-author of the paper. Not only did new tooth cells grow, but they were also stronger, the paper says.
Along with preventing drill-related discomfort, tooth regeneration could have physiological benefits. Drilling into teeth can destroy nerve cells and blood vessels, so replacing dead or diseased cells with new tissue would be a dramatic improvement.
More work needs to be done to prove the gel technique works in humans, however. Even then, it will probably only work in a few cases, Benkirane-Jessel says. Most cavities will still have to be filled.
We've reported on a suite of tooth tech lately, including a gel that halts decay between teeth; stem-cell implants that regenerate entire teeth; "tooth seeds" that re-grow lost molars; and even a cavity-killing lightsaber.
They're pretty cool solutions, but ultimately they won't replace the advice your mom drilled into your head: Brush your teeth!
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Good work guys soon we won't have to go to the dentist at all.
I wonder why it only works on certain people? Is it genetic or does it have to do with the nature of the site of treatment?
Sweet! So five years from now I can wake up in the morning and check my teeth in the mirror. Oh no! I've got a cavity! *dabs gel on tooth, Guess it will be gone soon. Good thing i bought some more tooth gel!
Put it in toothpaste.
I wonder if they can use the same hormone for people with osteoporosis. If it can stimulate osteoblast growth it might be the end of the dreaded condition.
and in ten years we will find out how said hormone causes cancer, blood clots, and increases risk of heart attack
Try brushing with pure glycerol (glycerin in the US). It contact-dehydrates/kills bacteria, and suppresses inflammation, and promotes healing and regrowth. If you have loose teeth, it will rapidly firm up the gums and the rooting in the jaw. I don't know about cavities, but I suspect it will eliminate the caries bacteria, and encourage normal tissue/enamel replacement.
Also an instant death-breath eliminator: sip, swish on the back of the tongue, and swallow. (It tastes sweetish, and is an approved food additive, 'GRAS' in FDA terminology.)
Actually, I sometimes wonder about putting a dirty brush that sits on a shelf laced with a chemical paste in your mouth every day.
Its amazing how many methods of regenerating teeth have come out in the past few years. My favorite still is via the use of LIPUS (low intensity pulsed ultrasound). Not sure if that had been reported here, but here's a link about that:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060628234304.htm
Now the only question remaining is IF the dentist and pharmaceutical industry will allow these things to come out on the commercial market? I reckon that a lot of dentists and their associated industries would have to pack their bags.
@chaolin
im sure it has more to do with the size and nature of the cavity itself