Dental News

A Japanese research team recently claimed a major breakthrough in bio engineered dental implants.  They have grown an entire tooth, roots and all from a stem cell and successfully transplanted it without any bone grafting required.

Professor Takashi Tsuji, who led the team from the Tokyo University of Science, hopes this breakthrough will enable his team to move on to bioengineer other vital organ like the liver and kidneys.

The team grew the tooth from a mouse’s stem cell which were grown inside a drop of collagen and placed inside a living mouse’s kidney.  At maturity the new tooth was then transplanted successfully into another mouse’s jaw. The US Public Library of Science Journal reports the tooth is fully functional and mature, with bones and ligament around it.

So what does this mean for dentistry? Human transplants might become the standard in dental repair in the next decades. This could also significantly reduce the cost of dental implant and other cosmetic dental procedures in the future.