By Robert Succi
| Update
BGR reports that scientists are close to discovering how to regrow teeth with a new drug in development. Even though humans are at the top of the food chain, we only get two full sets of chompers if we’re lucky, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.
This new drug, which will begin human clinical trials in July 2024, has the potential to change the entire dental industry for the better if the research proves successful.
Teeth, once lost, are lost forever, but a new drug that takes advantage of chemical interactions could change that.
The first participants in this clinical trial will be people born with the genetic condition known as dental agenesis, which is the congenital absence of one or more teeth. When researchers studied rats with the same disease, they found that USAG-1 (gene 1 associated with uterine sensitization) could be blocked from interacting with other genes that prevent the bifunctional protein from growing new teeth in its subjects.
In other words, the initial clinical trial involving rats with tooth agenesis could work very well on similarly affected humans.
In the initial trial, rats with the genetic condition of tooth agenesis were able to regrow lost teeth using the drug.
It is reasonable to assume that once these initial clinical trials were conducted, researchers could then apply their findings to participants without dental agenesis. If the trials are a resounding success, scientists could then conduct research on how to regrow teeth in patients of all kinds. Imagine breaking some teeth and being able to take a pill to grow new ones through pharmaceutical means.
It seems like a wild concept, but we’re definitely getting there.
Nowadays, having your teeth crowned or replaced using modern technology is still a painful ordeal that could potentially involve multiple surgeries and long healing times. And if you’re not a fan of soup or soft foods, the healing process can be quite boring, as you have to change many aspects of your daily life to ensure success. recovery.
Although we are not fully informed of the type of delay that would be involved in the full regrowth of a human tooth, it still seems like a better alternative to succumbing to surgery in every way imaginable.
Human trials will begin in 2024 and hopefully people with tooth agenesis will be able to grow new teeth without adverse side effects.
Researchers hope this new drug will be widely available to the public by 2030, but we may be getting ahead of ourselves. Human trials are still a year away, and all of the above hinges on the fact that participants with tooth agenesis are able to grow new teeth without any glaring side effects. Principal Investigator Katsu Takahashi is extremely confident in his research and is beyond excited to see his hard work fully realized in the years to come.
We’ll have to wait a bit longer for the new drug to complete clinical trials and gain FDA approval, but the prospect of growing new teeth is something we should all be excited about. Of course, we run the risk that our dentist will have more chances to tell us that we’re not flossing properly, but that’s a small price to pay if the payoff is being able to grow a new incisor after a skiing accident without effort.
