Growing teeth could be the future of dentistry. Photo: AFP
It's unlikely humans will ever evolve to grow a third set of teeth, as evolutionary change only occur when our lives depend on it. But tooth scientists are getting close to being able to teach teeth to repair themselves naturally.
Professor Paul Sharpe tells Jesse Mulligan the dream is to grow a new human tooth.
Teeth contain stem cells which normally assist the repair of small cracks and lesions, but aren’t capable of helping to repair the larger the holes created by drilling after tooth decay, Professor Sharpe says.
Stem cells have also been identified in periodontal ligaments – the very complicated tissue that connects our teeth and bones and acting like a shock absorber when we’re eating, for example.
Professor Sharpe says tooth regeneration is looking possible through the creation and transplant of a miniature tooth 'primordium' – a ball of cells which resemble the way a tooth appears when it first develops in an embryo. Teeth could potentially then grow in the adult mouth as they would in an embryo.
Human teeth formed outside the embryo so far have only been observed when something has gone wrong – such as when teeth grow in a dental tumour or ovarian cyst.
Dr Sharpe’s team hopes to discover what is happening in these cases in order to stimulate a process that usually occurs only in the embryo.
Professor Paul Sharpe works at the Sharpe Lab, King's College, London.
