Researchers reveal new tissue regeneration technique
A team of researchers has revealed a study, which may have found the answer to replacing lost adult teeth.
Many people lose teeth, either as a result of severe decay or following an accident or injury. Although there are options available to replace lost teeth, there is nothing like having an original set of teeth and researchers at Columbia University may just have found the solution to this problem. Dr Jeremy Mao, a Professor of Dental Medicine, has been working on a means of tissue regeneration, which works by instructing the body’s stem cells to reproduce tissue in line with a pre-designed scaffolding structure, which will hold the new tissue. It is believed that the method could produce a new tooth just nine weeks after the scaffold is implanted.
The method was developed at the university’s Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine laboratory and involves designing a scaffolding structure, which is then implanted in the mouth. The stem cells are encouraged to produce new tissue, which grows around the scaffold and fills the empty tooth socket.
This is the first method which uses the body’s own regeneration system to produce new teeth; if it is proven to be successful in upcoming trials, it could change the face of modern dentistry and provide an excellent alternative to dental bridges, dentures and dental implants.
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