Japanese scientists have developed a treatment to (re)grow teeth. Tested on rodents, the drug showed promise. The experiment will be extended to humans at the start of the next school year.
As children, we have baby teeth. When these fall out, they are replaced by other teeth which will remain the same for the rest of our lives, at least until the day they fall out, or they have to be removed. This affects most of the population, but some individuals may be missing one or more permanent teeth.
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Permanent teeth that fall out or are knocked out do not grow back. The only way to have a full set of teeth again is to wear dentures or dentures. But maybe not for long. Dr. Katsu Takahashi, of the Kitano Hospital Medical Research Institute in Japan and co-founder of the company Toregem Biopharma, and his team may have found a way to regrow teeth, Metro newspaper reports.
By deactivating the USAG-1 protein, responsible for stopping tooth growth, they found that it triggered new teeth to grow where there were none. They tested the inhibitor drug they developed on mice and ferrets, and it showed great promise. So much so that, from September 2024, they will test their discovery on thirty men aged 30 to 64 who are missing at least one tooth, and who have volunteered.
If this drug also proves its effectiveness in humans, Japanese researchers want to administer it to children aged two to seven who have been missing at least four teeth since birth. They also hope to begin marketing this treatment in 2030.
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