Teeth successfully grown in a US lab could rewrite the history of implantology

Scientists at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (USA) are developing lab-grown teeth that could become a natural alternative to dental implants in the future.

Current dental implants may cause complications

Scientists have grown a mixture of pig and human tooth cells in pig tooth tissue in an attempt to create bioengineered structures that resemble real human teeth.

The experiment could bring us closer to a more natural alternative to current titanium implants.

Growing teeth for humans remains a major challenge because replacing teeth is a complex process.

Current implants are made of titanium, but their use can cause complications and lead to additional health problems.

“It’s very difficult to replace an implant because you have to rebuild the bone that’s lost over time. We’re trying to create functional tooth replacements,” says researcher Pamela Yelick.

The road to functional tooth replacements

In their study, researchers Yelick and Weibo Zhong used cells from the jaws of pigs collected from slaughterhouses. This is possible because pigs grow several sets of teeth during their lives, so there are always cells from immature teeth.

The cells were grown in the lab, yielding “tens of millions” of cells that, as Yelick’s previous experiment showed, grow tooth-like structures when implanted into a living body.

In the latest experiment, scientists grew a mixture of human and pig tooth cells using pieces of pig teeth. This created a corresponding tooth fragment.

They then implanted these tooth fragments into the jaws of six mini-pigs.

After two months, they observed that the teeth grew in a similar way to healthy human teeth with layers of dentin.

Although the teeth are not yet fully formed, Yelick says the results offer hope for the future of growing functional teeth that could replace those that are missing.