Scientists develop drug that may make human teeth regrow.

The scientists have managed to develop a drug that has regrown third-generation teeth in animal models and will now begin human trials.

Hopefully this drug will proven to be safe and effective because having functional teeth that don't cost an arm and a leg is a dream for many people.

The research team has already successfully stimulated the growth of "third-generation" teeth - following the first round baby teeth and then permanent adult teeth - in animal models by targeting a gene called USAG-1, which has been found to limit tooth growth in mice.

By developing a neutralising antibody medicine that blocks the action of USAG-1, Takahashi’s team induced tooth regrowth in mice and ferrets.

The promising results were published in the scientific journal Nature in 2021, capturing the attention of the global scientific community.

A drug to regrow teeth would be revolutionary, providing an alternative solution for individuals who have lost their teeth due to severe cavities or dental diseases.

Work is now underway to get the drug ready for human use. And once its safety and efficacy are ensured, the focus will be on treating children aged 2 to 6 who display signs of anodontia, reported the Mainichi.

Dr Takahashi envisions a future where tooth-regrowth medicine becomes a viable third option alongside dentures and implants, offering individuals a chance to regain their natural teeth.

"We hope to pave the way for the medicine's clinical use," Takahashi noted.

www.euronews.com...#:~:text=By%20developing%20a%20neutra lising%20antibody,of%20the%20global%20scientific%20community.

brilliant though you have to wonder at either the cost of if the implant industry will simply buy it out so it never sees light of day..

originally posted by: nickyw
brilliant though you have to wonder at either the cost of if the implant industry will simply buy it out so it never sees light of day..

I was thinking about that too, but if the regrown teeth are let's say stunted then they will still have a foothold in the industry and maybe the implants can be re-engineered to actually be functional.

Just for fun...where do teeth come from?



A Great White Shark can go through 20,000 teeth in it's lifetime.

Now why would our bodies naturally not want to regrow teeth? Seems like there must have been a good reason somewhere…


a reply to: quintessentone

a reply to: ITSALIVE

its need in terms of how old we get, getting to an old age is quite recent..

average age of an Anglo-Saxon was 36, the average age of a Victorian labourer was 22, a tradesman was 27.. in the usa the average for a slave was also 22.. not even the rich needed their teeth longer as the rich Victorian 45 rich American 40..

one of the bits of data we get from marriages is that the harder years the more often people put of marriage and kids so in really lean years the Anglo Saxon married at an average of 25 meaning they had roughly 11 years to have kids secure their future before death..

so no evolutionary need..


eta from that its easy to see the need for the early witches who where seen as pretty and young girls would get charms/spells to find love, to get married, get pregnant and the most important of all to have a love birth..

our evolutionary needs was to have live births over replaceable teeth..

originally posted by: ITSALIVE
Now why would our bodies naturally not want to regrow teeth? Seems like there must have been a good reason somewhere…


a reply to: quintessentone

Yes, I have thought about that too, that's why I said I hope the drug will be proven safe.

Maybe we need to look to the shark's tooth regeneration process for more answers.

originally posted by: nickyw
a reply to: ITSALIVE

its need in terms of how old we get, getting to an old age is quite recent..

average age of an Anglo-Saxon was 36, the average age of a Victorian labourer was 22, a tradesman was 27.. in the usa the average for a slave was also 22.. not even the rich needed their teeth longer as the rich Victorian 45 rich American 40..

one of the bits of data we get from marriages is that the harder years the more often people put of marriage and kids so in really lean years the Anglo Saxon married at an average of 25 meaning they had roughly 11 years to have kids secure their future before death..

so no evolutionary need..

I recall watching a documentary about the Inuit in Nunavut, Canada and an elder was explaining how, before the white man introduced them to sugar, everybody had strong and healthy teeth right up into old age.

So perhaps in their case it was diet and maybe DNA too? No way to really know without a scientific clinicial study.

The Inuit diet was mainly a meat diet and on the video above the T-Rex teeth were also rock solid strong. So maybe a strictly meat diet is good for the teeth?

a reply to: quintessentone

diet = better/longer lives then and now, but old age is quite the subjective concept.. when i went to school in the 70s we where told we'd live to 75 so hitting 50 i started on a slow retire.. but reality is we can now expect to hit 100-120 so i've another 75 to go again.. its messed up my retirement plans

Wow I find this trully revolusionary if it wasn't for the fact that is a reason why humans do not regrow teeth and is more complicated that many may think.

In order for humans to regrow teeth it will have to be some tweaking of the human DNA to achieve that.

I did some research, and this is what I found out.

Humans can’t regrow teeth because the stem cells that produce teeth wilt away after adult teeth grow in1. The leading theory is that adult humans can’t regrow our teeth because it was better for survival to only grow one well-aligned adult set23. This has to do with evolution and the fact that most mammals have specialized teeth that must align properly in the mouth to be useful for eating1.

Soo I would love to know more about this promising drug and how is going to work in the human body to regrow teeth.

a reply to: quintessentone

Great technology if taken to its logical conclusion.

I imagine that it may also be quite painful akin to a child teething.

originally posted by: nickyw
a reply to: quintessentone

diet = better/longer lives then and now, but old age is quite the subjective concept.. when i went to school in the 70s we where told we'd live to 75 so hitting 50 i started on a slow retire.. but reality is we can now expect to hit 100-120 so i've another 75 to go again.. its messed up my retirement plans

Same here, my retirement plans are a no-go, so I'd better get back to my yoga, gardening (pilates) and I was just about to learn Tai Chi because it looks like I'll need a stress releaser going forward and a new third set of teeth might be nice too. lol

This has one problem. A mouse is a rodent. Rodent teeth grow throughout their life span. This is why they chew on everything. Squirrels, rats, rabbits, chipmunks, etc.. they all continuously grow teeth longer. At
Least the front teeth. Wild hogs and elephants continuously grow tusks. Sharks just grow many rows of new teeth and constantly loose a few from the front row, which are replaced by the next row.

I somehow don't see the same mechanism of tooth growth in apes. This research cheated by starting with an animal that already has continuous tooth growth.

originally posted by: beyondknowledge2
This has one problem. A mouse is a rodent. Rodent teeth grow throughout their life span. This is why they chew on everything. Squirrels, rats, rabbits, chipmunks, etc.. they all continuously grow teeth longer. At
Least the front teeth. Wild hogs continuously grow tusks. Sharks just grow many rows of new teeth and constantly loose a few from the front row, which are replaced by the next row.

I somehow don't see the same mechanism of tooth growth in apes.

There must be a mechanism connected to this new drug if the scientists are forging ahead with human trials. The scientists would have had to be very convincing to get funding? Maybe not?

ETA

More information about why this may work on humans:

The drug works by inhibiting a gene called USAG-1, which is responsible for stopping "tooth buds," which most people have, from ever developing into either baby or permanent teeth. By inhibiting that gene, the idea is Toregem's new drug will stimulate the growth of these buds. Some animal research has been promising.

futurism.com...

Awesome news. Weird story that is related.

My dad was a doctor. I remember him telling me a story some 10-15 years ago that he had a patient who was in the late 90s, almost a 100 and the patient seemed to have new teeth growing in. Like a third set of teeth.

What he and the other colleagues came up with eventually is an idea that all humans have a third set of teeth, but for some reason they don't start growing for us in our adulthood. The idea was to somehow 'instigate' the third growth. They didn't know if this could be done electronically or some other type of stimulation.

It would appear that it can be done genetically. The teeth are there, they just need to get flipped on.

Leaves a whole new weird topic... why do we have a third set of teeth?

originally posted by: nickyw
a reply to: ITSALIVE

its need in terms of how old we get, getting to an old age is quite recent..

average age of an Anglo-Saxon was 36, the average age of a Victorian labourer was 22, a tradesman was 27.. in the usa the average for a slave was also 22.. not even the rich needed their teeth longer as the rich Victorian 45 rich American 40..

one of the bits of data we get from marriages is that the harder years the more often people put of marriage and kids so in really lean years the Anglo Saxon married at an average of 25 meaning they had roughly 11 years to have kids secure their future before death..

so no evolutionary need..


eta from that its easy to see the need for the early witches who where seen as pretty and young girls would get charms/spells to find love, to get married, get pregnant and the most important of all to have a love birth..

our evolutionary needs was to have live births over replaceable teeth..

Sorry but that was just a random collection of words lacking context. The average human life span has varied over time. At some point it was certainly longer than 22 years. Witches have nothing to do with why teeth don’t constantly regrow.

Perhaps growing new wisdom teeth will be painful like giving birth.

I hope they only grow in your jaw to replace old ones .would hate to have them grow elsewhere on your body.would hate to have them grow on your forehead or elsewhere.

a reply to: zenartist

That sounds like some cancers. What could possibly go wrong when messing with DNA?

a reply to: ITSALIVE

easy context increasing age = teeth falling out a very modern thing thus its not an evolutionary need.

shorter lifespan = increased evolutionary need to have kids thus having live births was more important than having teeth.

we find the evidence for that in those who sought spells to have live births highlights the importance of live births over teeth.

you may be really old and think teeth are more important than live birth but that just implies there is no evolutionary pressure for you to have kids and replace yourself.