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Veronica Olivan
Dr. Michaela Gazdik Stoffer
Biology 1610-006 Blog Assignment
02/09/2018

Instead of Filling Cavities, Dentist May Soon Regenerate Teeth


Growing up, I've always been told to fix my teeth for a better smile-mostly by dentists and peers around me. With the criticism coming to me about my teeth throughout my life, it did bring a slight curiosity about teeth in general. Smiles are usually the first thing you notice about a person. I personally feel like you can tell a lot from a person by how they take care of their dental health. As for me, I take care of my crooked teeth very well and I love my smile. I strongly believe there's more to dentistry than the cosmetics that society focuses on. The article I chose is not only about the future of dentistry but how fascinating science is evolving to find different ways to treat cavities.

 Recently researches have discovered a drug that not only treats Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders but can be used to produce more dentin. If you don't know, Dentin is the bony tissue beneath the enamel. When teeth remain unclean for too long, acid can damage the the enamel and the dentin beneath. If the acid damages far enough into the tooth where tissue cannot rebuild, it becomes a cavity.

The process to fix a cavity consists of drilling holes into the teeth and filling them with synthetic material such as metal, plastic, or glass cement. Paul Sharpe is a bio-engineer from King's College London who with the help of his colleges, used mice to study a different way to treat cavities. They
believed if they used a studied research called Wnt signaling pathway- a particular set of molecules for tissue repair used for skin, intestines, and the brain. If the signaling could be used in those particular parts of the body, could it be applied to teeth as well? Using this type of treatment would help produce the activity of stem cells to regenerate dental tissue.

Sharpe believed that his hypothesis of using WSP on mice would rapidly repair damaged dental tissue than the mice who used every day dental fillers. To test his hypothesis, he had mice with fake cavities treated two different ways. One set of mice had tiny soaked collagen with dentin-like proteins with a drug called tideglusib that was used to treat Alzheimer's. The other set of mice with typical dental fillers. After a 6 week trial, he noticed that the mice with the Alzheimer's drug produced more dentin than the mice who had regular dental fillers. He states that "it was essentially a complete repair". Based on his research, Sharpe observed that you could barely see the joint where the old and new dentin met.

 Today, Sharpe and his colleges are still testing out potential side effects that can occur. In the article there was a worrisome that an uncontrolled use of stem cells can cause regrowth of bones growing in eyelids or brain tumors. Due to Sharpe's research, he stated that he uses a very minimal amount to where extreme side effects shouldn't be an issue. Since the post of the initial study they've tried using the same research on rats since they have bigger teeth and the results were the same. They are currently in the process of using different drugs in order to see what works better than what they've already used.

The world of dentistry is changing and scientists are discovering advanced ways to treat painful dental injuries. Modern dentistry is coming closer than we expect it and with new research, people will be able to enjoy an even healthier smile.

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/instead-of-filling-cavities-dentists-may-soon-regenerate-teeth1/

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 26, 2018 at 3:50 PM

    This is amazing! My father is a dentist, and I think he would love this option. Sadly, he's looking to retire in the next few years, so he will probably never see the benefits of this. I hope I can see this become standard practice in my lifetime though. That would be amazing!
    -A.C.

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