There’s Now An Experimental Medicine Designed To Regrow Teeth
The average adult human body consists of 206 bones. When one of these bones breaks, they have the remarkable ability to heal and regrow themselves.
Teeth, on the other hand, do not share this gift even though they are made of many of the same materials as bones.
So, if you lose a tooth as an adult, it is unlikely to be restored. However, that may not always be the case.
Researchers in Japan are moving forward with clinical trials of an experimental drug that is designed to regrow human teeth.
It is the first medicine of its kind to be introduced to the world. Once the medicine has been tested and deemed safe for human use, it will be administered in September to patients who lack a full set of teeth in order to prove its effectiveness. By 2030, the researchers hope the drug will be available for sale on the market.
“We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,” said Katsu Takahashi, the lead researcher of the study and the head of dentistry at the medical research institute at Kitano Hospital in Osaka.
“While there has been no treatment to date providing a permanent cure, we feel that people’s expectations for tooth growth are high.”
According to the hospital, the medicine will be given to 30 healthy males between the ages of 30 and 64 during the first stage of the clinical trials, which will take place over the course of 11 months. The subjects must be missing at least one back tooth.
For the second stage, the drug will be given to patients with congenital tooth deficiency. Around one percent of the world’s population is affected by congenital tooth deficiency.
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The subjects will include individuals between the ages of two and seven who have at least four teeth missing from birth.
So far, no major side effects have occurred in animal studies involving the drug. In fact, it showed enormous potential for the regrowth of teeth.
A tooth grew successfully in a mouse with congenital tooth deficiency, and a ferret that started out with six front teeth ended up growing a seventh after just a single dose of the medicine.
The tooth regrowth medicine follows years of study of a protein called Uterine sensitization-associated gene-1 (USAG-1), which has been shown to inhibit the growth of teeth in mice and ferrets.
The medicine suppresses the protein through a monoclonal antibody, a technique that is typically used for fighting cancer. It disrupted the interaction between USAG-1 and molecules called bone morphogenetic protein.
Although the treatments are currently focused on people with congenital tooth deficiency, the researchers hope they will be able to help anyone who has lost a tooth.
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