Using Lasers to Regrow Teeth

[Slaughter]

Good news for all you taffy addicts and crystal meth smokers out there — a Harvard-led team of scientists has just devised a way to regrow teeth. If developed further, this technology could spell the end things like fillings and dentures, and even lay the groundwork for other regenerative procedures like wound healing, bone regeneration, and more.

Published yesterday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the procedure used to achieve this tooth regrowth sounds like it’s taken straight out of a science fiction novel. The team used a low-power laser beam to trigger human dental stem cells and encourage them to form dentin: the hard, bone-like tissue that lies underneath a tooth’s enamel and makes up the bulk of a tooth’s mass.

This is groundbreaking because up until now, stem cells –undifferentiated cells that have the ability to become different, more specialized types of cells– have proven difficult to manipulate with much precision. Scientists have long been fascinated with stem cells because of their potential to repair or replace damaged or worn out tissues, but generally speaking, medical researchers have struggled to figure out ways to coax them into becoming the specific types of cells, like dentin or skin, for example.

Full Article on Digital Trends

[goldenfooler]

Just read that... now have them smear the teeth with more stem cells

[juneau]

Wow! Pity I have no use for this as all my teeth are still 'Au Naturel'.

[K PhaNTOM]

Wow! Pity I have no use for this as all my teeth are still 'Au Naturel'.

Location
Stoke On Trent, England


Yeah, right.

[goldenfooler]

Wow! Pity I have no use for this as all my teeth are still 'Au Naturel'.

Do you mean crooked