Complete tooth structures have been regenerated successfully, according to an article in the October issue of the Journal of Dental Research.
Researchers at The Forsyth Institute in Boston took cells from immature teeth of six-month-old pigs. They seeded the cells on biodegradable polymer scaffolds and placed them in rat hosts. At 30 weeks, small recognizable tooth crowns had formed. These tooth structures contained dentin, odontoblasts, a pulp chamber, putative Hertwig’s root sheath epithelia, putative cementoblasts and a morphologically correct enamel organ containing fully formed enamel.
Earlier research had used other approaches to form partial tooth structures including dentin and pulp, but none had completed structures that included enamel.
The study results also suggest the existence of dental stem cells, which could be the key to bioengineering human teeth. "The ability to identify, isolate and propagate dental stem cells to use in biological replacement tooth therapy has the potential to revolutionize dentistry," said Dr. Dominick P. DePaola, president and chief executive officer of The Forsyth Institute.
