Is it Possible to Regrow Human Teeth?

Teeth are fundamentally composed of nine elements simple yet complex. Why is it then after growning a second set of teeth replacement teeth don't grow in? A gene could be the main culprit. When it switches on teeth don't grow back. In speculation it may do this to help prevent cancer. Teeth contain Dentin; tissue stronger and much harder then bone so what makes a tooth chip, break and fall out?

Cavities are a large cause of tooth loss. A cavity is a fancy word for hole. The hole starts out small growing deeper and wider till it hits the nerves of a tooth causing pain. We get cavities from the acid bacteria in our mouth create. Eventually the tooth will decay if left untreated. Receding gum lines or absorption of the jaw-line and teeth do their share to inflict tooth loss. Dentists can't always fix a tooth. Sometimes it breaks down to the gums or the decay has caused irreversible damage. In this case extraction is necessary.

It has long been rumored that Buddhist Monks have grown teeth back. The purification of mind and body was thought to have made this possible. There have been people over hundred who have developed new teeth. Is it possible over a period of years we will grow a third or fourth set of teeth? Most people don't want to wait around that long. Tooth loss in any form leaves gumming foods, partial or false teeth as options.

Technology has come a long way and replacing teeth with our own is a priority for many in their chosen field. It was a welcome breakthrough for researchers when they found success by growing a tooth in a mouse kidney. The tooth could then be removed and transplanted. According to the " Journal of Dental Research," Six Month Old pigs contained cells in their immature teeth which could be obtained and placed upon scaffolds of biodegradable polymer. Transplanted in rats, tooth crowns surfaced in thirty weeks.

While this is a remarkable feat in itself, Paul Sharpe's discovery of the gene Barx-1, which controls what type of tooth will arise,
has led a British professor to begin work on a genetic tooth gel. This promising gel will contain all the genetic information to allow a tooth to take shape and grow. Principally, it would replace the normal fillings we use to fill cavities. The tooth would be able to reconstruct itself eliminating the hazardous metal now used, but we will have to wait ten to twenty years before this product hits the market.

By that time we may already be using an ultrasound device expected to become available in the next two years. Dr. Jie Chen,
Dr. Ying Tsui, and Dr. Tarak El-Bialy have invented a wireless transducer device designed to emit low-intensity ultrasound pulses. These pulses help to stimulate jaw growth and in turn have the ability to produce a tooth in a year's time by re-growing the root of a tooth. The device is placed inside a removable crown or braces where it will pulse until removed.