It is scary to think about losing your teeth, especially if you are an adult, but it is an issue that a lot of people face. Around a quarter of adults lose their teeth by the age of 74.
Although there are dental implants that can help, they can be very uncomfortable, especially since they do not adapt to the mouth as it ages. However, a new technique might help people to grow new teeth in just 2 months by using the patient's adult stem cells.
Regrow your teeth in 2 months
This discovery was published in August of 2019. The researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in New York City hope that they can get a patient's stem cells to grow an anatomically correct tooth.
Additionally, the new tooth will grow in a person's empty socket, even allowing it to merge with the surrounding gum tissue. They have already proven the ability to grow the teeth, however, after months of research and experiments, it is not available for humans yet.
The researchers conducted an experiment using 22 rats, according to the Journal of Dental Research. After the growth factors were implanted in the mouths of the rats, new bone material regenerated and integrated within 2 months. According to the researchers of the study, this is the first time that teeth-like structures have been regenerated in a living organism.
There can be a lot of benefits that come along with the new procedure if this treatment proves successful in humans. Since the tooth is grown in the socket where it will stay, there is also no need to harvest outside stem cells or make an outside environment for the tooth as it grows.
Because of this experiment, the researchers hope that this will be a better and more cost-effective solution for patients who can't afford dental implants. Also, since the tooth grows right in the mouth, there will likely be less recovery time and it will be less likely for teeth to fail.
However, for the time being, dental implants are the closest thing that we have to help replace lost teeth, Unfortunately, implants can be painful and it requires a long healing process, also it does not usually adapt to aging mouths which can cause the implant to fail.
Disadvantages of dental implants
The first disadvantage of dental implants is that they are expensive. Dental implants are not covered by dental insurance, if anything, they might help cover the restoration that will be attached to the dental implant such as the dental bridge, dental crown, and partial or full denture.
Another disadvantage of dental implants is that they need surgery to be placed. This may not be a big deal for some but keep in mind that surgery always has a health risk. The complication rate is just an average of 5 to 10%. The complications and risks of dental implants include damage to other teeth, infection, nerve damage, delayed bone healing, jaw fractures, prolonged bleeding and more.
With that said, this new alternative may become available soon. Even now, researchers at Columbia University have filed patent applications for this discovery and they are also looking at ways to make the process available commercially.
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