http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1834654020070219


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese researchers said on Sunday they had grown normal-looking teeth from single cells in lab dishes, and transplanted them into mice.

They used primitive cells, not quite as early as stem cells, and injected them into a framework of collagen, the material that holds the body together.

After growing them, they found their structures had matured into the components that make teeth, including dentin, enamel, dental pulp, blood vessels, and periodontal ligaments.

They were "arranged appropriately when compared with a natural tooth," the researchers reported in the journal Nature Methods.

The teeth grew and developed normally when transplanted into a mouse, said Takashi Tsuji of the Tokyo University of Science in Chiba, Japan and colleagues.

They said their method was the first to show an entire organ could be replaced using just a few cells.

"To restore the partial loss of organ function, stem cell transplantation therapies have been developed," they wrote.

"The ultimate goal of regenerative therapy, however, is to develop fully functioning bioengineered organs that can replace lost or damaged organs after disease, injury or aging."

The researchers went after the "organ germ" –– the early cells made using partially differentiated cells known as epithelial and mesenchymal cells. In this case the cells were taken from what is known as the tooth germ, the little bud that appears before an animal grows a tooth.

"Our reconstituted tooth germ generates a complete and entirely bioengineered tooth," they wrote.

"This study thus provides the first evidence of a successful reconstitution of an entire organ via the transplantation of bioengineered material," they added.

"Our present findings should also encourage the future development of organ replacement by regenerative therapy."

I'm sure the entire state of WV is pretty excited right now.

Well apparently everybody on ARFcom has perfect teeth so no need for excitement over this.  

I've been waiting and hoping for this to happen.  Sadly I'm pretty sure the ADA will never allow it to come to pass in my lifetime.

Hm.  I did not have to guess they did NOT come from fetal stem cells.

You shore got ah purdy mouth

Neato.

The ADA controls the United States dental culture.

There are a LOT of people who would go to Canada, Europe, or Asia if necessary to have replacement natural teeth.

So if I happen to "acquire" a tooth belonging to Audrey Hepburn or Marylin Monroe, how long before they will be able to grow me one.

I just got a bunch of funny looks at work. Don't you ever do that again.

OK I'll bite why?

You owe me a new keyboard....funniest thing I've read in awhile!

Why have I been waiting or why don't I think it will be viable in my lifetime?



For the former, I had an extremely bad experience with a dentist as a kid, I never got over it and have an illogical fear of being in the dentist chair.  It's the only thing that actually scares me to the bone, the thought of tooth nerve pain and the vibration of the dental drill makes me sweat and seize up.  So I didn't go to a dentist for about 8 years and now I'm paying the price.  I've found a dentist that I'm comfortable with and he does excellent work and has alleviated most of my fears, he's a magician with novacaine.  But I still have repaired teeth that are weakened by repair or fake all together and I'd give a left nut to grow a new set so I could "start fresh."



I assume you mean the latter, and I was really being facetious towards the little subgroup on Arfcom that is under the belief that dentists are a cult of money robbing bastards and you can heal your teeth on your own if only you quit using fluoride.  But it will probably never be affordable in my lifetime anyway.





 

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I don't think that would be the right kind of cells... and it might leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Yeah, you might want to post a link in the Hometown Forum.

I have terrible teeth. I'd love to be able to replace them with new ones.




You never know, he might be into that.

Oh, that's just great.

Now Godzilla is going to have fangs.

That's just fangtastic

If you have terrible teeth now and you replace them with genetically identical teeth, you'll still have terrible teeth.

I don't have genetically terrible teeth.  I have teeth I neglected in the past and wish I could start over with what I know now.