| In 2004 scientists at King's College London set up a | | | | front and back. |
| company called Odontis. They have been working on | | | | The teeth are grown in mice kidney capsules |
| developing human teeth from stem cells. This | | | | because they provide a convenient site for prolonged |
| biological replacement tooth has been trademarked as | | | | growth due to the bountiful blood supply to the |
| BioTooth. | | | | developing tooth. Dr. Sharpe's aim was never to grow |
| The idea is to take adult stem cells, treat them in a | | | | teeth in kidneys. This is just his experimental test |
| cell culture so they would be programmed to develop | | | | system. In the future its likely that the teeth will be |
| into teeth and then transplanted into the patients | | | | grown in some sort of artificial bio-reactor which itself |
| jaw where the gap is. Then a replacement tooth | | | | is still in development. |
| grows just as happens when humans grow their | | | | The tooth bud is then implanted in the jaw and the |
| original adult teeth. It is thought it would then take | | | | gum stitched or sealed with a clinical "glue". They |
| two to three months for the tooth to fully develop. | | | | have not started human clinical trials yet, however |
| The cost should not be more than existing | | | | they expect the procedure to be less invasive than a |
| treatments making it an attractive alternative to | | | | tooth extraction and the requirements for |
| other technologies such as implants and dentures. | | | | post-procedure care would be similar. After |
| By 2007 Dr. Paul Sharpe and his team had learned to | | | | implantation it takes the tooth about 3 weeks to set |
| control the type of tooth formed and control the | | | | in the jaw of a mouse. As long as the tooth is not |
| basic shapes, i.e. molar & incisor. Tooth | | | | under heavy load, it sets well. |
| development involves a network of thousands of | | | | The technology to grow replacement teeth could |
| genes. It's not necessary to understand what all the | | | | mean the end of dentures. Living teeth would be |
| genes are doing to get the ball rolling, Sharpe says. | | | | much better than dentures because they can |
| Rather, by watching when a few key genes are | | | | respond to a persons bite. They move and in doing |
| turned on and off, the researchers have learned | | | | so they maintain the health of the surrounding gums |
| which are most important in the control of size and | | | | and teeth. Dr. Sharpe has patented the technique and |
| shape. Some genes only work in the upper jaw, | | | | hopes to begin human trials in a few years once they |
| others only where molars grow. In one experiment, | | | | perfect their techniques. |
| Sharpe's team took early tooth buds from growing | | | | Predicting a release date to market is difficult as its |
| embryos and switched on a gene known to be | | | | still in development but according to their website |
| active in growing molars. They implanted the buds in | | | | they are expecting it to be available in "several |
| the front of the jaws of mice, where incisors would | | | | years". |
| normally grow. The rodents emerged with molars in | | | | |