Retired Orthodontist here. Bullshit.

I thought so at first. Did you check the Popular Mechanics link?

It's usually after an alien abduction.

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
Retired Orthodontist here. Bullshit.

Of course someone from "big teeth" would be a naysayer. (Joking)

FTA: "no side effects have been reported in previous animal studies."

Outside of teeth growing out of your elbows, everything looks fine...

IF it actually worked, IF it did, I can see some dingbat taking it, and being in a world of hurt when the teeth grow back under their fixed bridges.....edited to add, very few test animals have fixed bridges, so that comment is not too valid either.

I’ll keep my partial thank you.

Dose it only work on teeth ?

Never have heard of this. I’d be curious to know what gene turns on and off that very specific function. If you have totipotent cells, they can do anything..but knowing how to program it is a whole nuther ball game..

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
It's usually after an alien abduction.

They are really probing you if it pushes out new teeth.

I will be more impressed when they can regrow my hair.

Kidding aside, this is impressive if it actually will work on humans. Other animals have abilities to regrow missing limbs, so I can see where this could be feasible in humans.

I’m skeptical, but this would be absolutely amazing if something came of it. Aside from cosmetic dentistry and orthodontics, dentistry seems stuck in the 1800’s. Got a cavity? Root canal or it gets pulled. With all of the advances in medicine it seems ridiculous that those are pretty much the only choices we still have.

Fixing teeth presents a weird dilemma in that you are dealing with vascular living tissue in the pulp, non-living deposited crystalline mineral on the surface and the dentin holding the two together. Advancements in the 40 years since I started dental school have been largely in terms of materials. Composite bonding vs amalgam fillings, etc. the concepts haven't changed that much at all. BTW: The only time you should need an RCT or extraction for a cavity is if it has been neglected and gone so deep that it is into the pulp. Those that are confined to the enamel and dentin are filled/repaired with much less invasive techniques.


Various researchers have been trying to "grow teeth" for decades. The idea is that you would have a (somewhat) natural root anchoring into the bone and then put a porcelain crown on top. This news story is typical click bait hype. There is very close to zero chance that the "tooth" you would grow would have the proper size, shape and color to be a direct replacement for the one that was lost.

quote:

Originally posted by Vgex:

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
Retired Orthodontist here. Bullshit.

Of course someone from "big teeth" would be a naysayer. (Joking)

Joke all you want. While everyone is focused on Big Pharma, Big Ag and the Military Industrial Complex, Big Tooth rules the world from our bunkers under suburban dental offices.

This is real.

The unpublished, but primary and validation test subjects were sharks.

(And observed by little green men with huge eyes.)

.

^Since sharks constantly regenerate teeth throughout their life, I would conjecture that they were able to suppress tooth germination by administering the USAG-1 protein to the test animals?

I had two extra wisdom teeth, buried up above the normal ones. Does that count?

Don't rodent teeth never stop growing?

Imagine if you could splice into that gene, where human teeth never stop growing. That would solve alot of problems.

quote:

Originally posted by Nickelsig229:
Don't rodent teeth never stop growing?

Imagine if you could splice into that gene, where human teeth never stop growing. That would solve alot of problems.

And we'd be gnawing on a log constantly.