Scientists have grown fully formed teeth from stem cells.
The artificial teeth looked like the real thing, were sensitive to pain and could chew food.
The breakthrough was made on mice but could pave the way for those who lose teeth to decay or injury being able to ‘grow’ replacements.
Cutting edge: A bioengineered tooth, bottom right, successfully transplanted into the jaw of a mouse
The researchers harnessed the power of stem cells – ‘master cells’ which have the potential to be used to grow any part of the body – to generate teeth.
Two types of stem cell which between them contain all the instructions for making teeth were mixed together and grown in the lab in a mixture of chemicals and vitamins that started their transformation.
After five days, they had formed a tiny ‘tooth bud’. The fledgling tooth was then placed in a tailor-made plastic box deep inside a mouse’s body, where over the next 60 days it grew to form a full tooth.
While this might seem bizarre, putting it inside the body ensured it had access to the fluids and chemical signals it needed to develop further.
When fully grown, it was taken out of the box and transplanted deep into the jawbone of a mouse that had had a tooth removed.
Six weeks later, it had fused with the jawbone, the journal PLoS ONE reports. The tooth had all the components of normal teeth, including enamel, crown and root, and connective fibres to fix it to bone.
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