Submitted 3 weeks ago by Domino@quokk.au to technology@lemmy.world
https://newatlas.com/medical/protein-gel-rebuilds-tooth-enamel/
The researchers used extracted human molars as an ex vivo model, first etching their enamel or dentine surfaces with acid to mimic different stages of tooth erosion. They then applied a single coating of the biomimetic elastin-like recombinamer (ELR) gel and let it dry. Finally, the teeth were immersed in carefully controlled mineralization baths that replicated the ionic environment of saliva.
Keep in mind this hasn't been shown to actually help teeth in someone's mouth.
Just from that, it seems like its a patch job, not capable of regrowing from zero.
To be fair, the research is on regenerating, not regrowing. I wouldn’t expect regrowing lost teeth to be possible any time soon, unless some kind of bio 3D-printing method became available.
My guess is that they can slowly regrow lost enamel under fillings, slowly build back up later by layer until a filling is no longer needed. What would be amazing is a cure for gum disease.
Hell yeah. I’m gonna overuse this shit and just have 2 gigantic teeth. One on the top and one on the bottom. No more flossing for me. Fuse those bad boys together. I’ll have the smile of an N64 game character.
What could PAWSIBLY go wrong?
Currently sitting in an Uber relying on autocorrect to spell for me. I don’t want to belly laugh and make my driver think I’m a crazy person fuk u
Gotta get that cartoon chin as well.
if you’re gonna get chin work, make sure you have a butt chin (with a smaller, extendable butt implant installed in the cleft)
I think that’s just called dentures
Settle down Mitch Hedberg.
Finally, my dream of making teeth anywhere you can imagine could be realized.
FINALLY vaginadentata won’t just be a pipe dream.
🎵 Vagina Dentata, what a wonderful phrase! 🎵
Teeth growing inside tumors is already a thing. Just grow some tumors.
Imagine if teeth were like antlers where they emerge covered in skin that’s ripped off every year
those would be abnormal though, the genetics behind the tumor is probably not like a normal chromosone. odontomas, and teratomas produces it but they are abnormal teeth.
I no longer get excited about medical innovation because I know I’ll never be able to afford to benefit from any of it. I’m lucky to have gotten vaccinated as a child while that was still legal for the poors
When I was a teenager it was announced that we would soon be able to stimulate the growth of brand new teeth, right in the mouth. I’m almost 50 and I need some new fuckin’ teeth real soon.
There was a new development in japan less than a year ago. Downside is all your teeth fall out and all regrow
The problem is those new teeth were soft with no enamel. This could address that. Either way, no insurance will cover this and it will cost a fortune.
its possible now but the world is pretty fucked. we can already reduce aging too and reverse it, we have cancer treatments that have near 100 percent success rates for many cancers, and many of these developments were only in recent years but when you watch how much gets done without making it into actual hospitals because of shitass companies and practices it makes you feel a little concerned if any of that will really have an impact, especially when everything is already burning anyway…
No offense, but unless you have some sort of condition like not growing enamel, what have you been doing for your teeth to be that bad at not even 50? Chewing on anvils and flossing with barbed wire?
If this is legit and dental industry doesn’t try to drown it in a bathtub I’ll be fucking shocked.
I’ve heard of stuff like this for well over a decade. Seems like there’s a new article about teeth regrowth every month, either enamel or full teeth. Still waiting on real results.
It’s a subject that targets people’s deep-seated insecurities. Everybody wants a tooth that can regenerate when they first discover a cavity for themselves.
With enamel regrowing constantly after the smallest scratch, cavities cannot get to where they form.
This hokum story is promising no more cavities ever.
The teeth regrowth thing was only two years ago.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/…/full
It’s been in the works for over ten years. Here is a paper from 2014.
It’s the new new battery tech!
We have had massive improvements in batteries so that bodes well!
But batteries consistently improve year on year, we just keep increasing the demand of our devices in lockstep because 10% more powerful! markets much better than 10% more battery life.
Battery tech is the new fusion, just 10 years away!
I fully believe most dentists would rather kill the inventor of whoever lets us regrow teeth for cheap than let it come to the light of day
Change my mind.
The only way this sees the market is if it is nerfed to require reapplication every six months.
Dentists make a lot more money off of major repairs and general maintenance than they do by replacing teeth entirely.
Oral surgeons on the other hand do make money off major repairs to damaged teeth or teeth replacements. I know people often call anyone who works on teeth a dentist, but technically they are different professions.
It would be really incredible if they can manage to make this an OTC offering. This is huge.
After reading that article, this feels like something that I would want a trained professional to oversee.
Maybe similar to fluoride, there can be a low-concentration version OTC, with the strong professional version only being available directly.
No, I shall grow myself an enamel tusk!
Can they make one to generate beaver enamel? I will accept the red color if I can chew through a tree.
beaver have a different composition, its made of iron compounds, i dont think human mouths are adapted to have iron teeth, it might damage your other teeth, because iron is much harder than calcium hydroxyapatite.
there are times i think about getting titanium caps, but my one crown does not feel great and i don’t like how mouthpieces feel
How many times have I read this headline…
Every time you read it it’s in a mouse or a petri dish.
I wish they would put that on the headline.
According to the article, they used human teeth from cadavers
There’s a big difference between doing something in a lab and mass producing it for millions of people.
My only question is - when will it be available?
How long until the dental restoration industry lobbies it out to be banned, so they can keep selling their photoshop jobs of people smiling with new teeth alongside crowns and implants, all at an inflated price?
It already happens with nano-hydroxyapatite pastes. In Europe you find them at the supermarket for 5 euro, in USA you need a prescription and it’s sold for $$$
Uh no. You can get nHA toothpaste in the USA without a prescription, not sure why you’d think that. It’s just not a popular item here so it’s not sold at brick and mortar stores for the most part, though some smaller stores have it. But I have no problem ordering the stuff online.
When I can access it, I'll be happy.
Our medical knowledge is shockingly rudimentary. Why we can’t coax cells to do what they did anyway before is something we really need to understand to pretend to have any kind of medical knowledge. What passes for medicine is nothing more than 19th century++. See this, do that, body will heal. That’s about it. I’m shocked every time I see someone in a wheelchair, how can we have LLMs and hallucinated movies but not understand how a few milligrams of organic matter organizes into nerves? etc etc etc
I am hoping that the absolutely bonkers computing power we are currently wasting on fart videos will be used to simulate matter in the future, here’s to cheering on the AI crash!
We have a pretty good idea how things work during development, it’s tricking those cells into the same process as a fully-formed organism that’s hard. Isolating and distributing the hormones in the right way. I think you’re underselling the complexity and scale of biology. We can’t just put a tiny camera and chemo-sensor inside a neuron and see what’s going on in real time and synthesize up a hundred thousand copies.
That’s my point, we’ll simulate it.
In reality, AI will help solve a lot of our medical ignorance. Not the goofball LLMs, but specialized AI algorithms specifically geared towards niche medical research and applications. Don’t let GPT and Gemini sour the potential of some possibly game changing software.
The human body is an immensely complex system of chemical reactions.
And before you say “simulate it”, we don’t have nearly enough computational resources to do that. Simple reactions or chains of reactions, yes, but even a simple body process consists of multiple steps and a number of large, complex molecules.
This right here. We can definitely model how a single chemical effects cells, but what about multiple chemicals. The reality is we are still very far from simulating something like the side effects from multiple interacting drugs at once.
We will likely discover some incredible insights when we do this though.
we do have the ability to coax cells and even turn differenciated cells into pluripotent stem cells we’ve been able to for years the people who did it won a nobel peace prize
Hopefully in the right place.
Congrats, you’re now a narwhal
Narwhals, narwhals, swimming in the ocean
Causing a commotion 'cause they are so awesome
Behold my new chitinous armour plates!
Side effects: sharp fangs and uncontrollable drooling.
Win win
I’ve heard about something like this back in 90s for the first time. I guess we won’t see anything ever. Big tooth won’t allow it 😂
gimmie
I bet the catch here is it could accidentally grow anywhere in the body as long as it mimics what our mouth has (saliva). Imagine growing enamel in our tongues or throat.
Doesn’t matter without an anchor point
isnt that why naHp DOES already in a dental setting, but there hasnt been definitive studies where its conclusive with OTC usage, eventhough there are tons of nahp products out there already from 5-10% with extremely questionable concentration and efficacy.
Not gonna help anyone with broken ones
You’re telling me I’ve been brushing twice a day all my life for nothing?
Man, what a bummer.
I’m not sure if this is a good thing. Just imagine how many people will just stop brushing their teeth and smell worse than trash cans when you talk to them.
Without burning your tongue this time?
mastertigurius@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This man doesn’t just disapprove of people mistreating their teeth, he is personally insulted by it. A true dentist.
Deconceptualist@leminal.space 3 weeks ago
I could never ever work in that field, it gives me the ick. So I appreciate people who can.
Also enamel is the hardest substance in your body; AFAIK chemically it is indeed interesting and hard (ha) to emulate with other bio-safe materials.
Sxan@piefed.zip 3 weeks ago
But will it allow us to create new body armors, is what I want to know.
7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
It’s almost as bad being married to someone that works in that field.
My wife is a dental hygienist. Some of the horrific shit she sends me would turn your stomach. And then the experiences she’s had working on teeth… Just so so gross. 🤮🤮
anubis119@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
1/10 dentists disagree with this guy.
beemikeoak@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
Hands you a bloody 2X4…not anymore!