No More Fillings: Teeth Can Repair Themselves Now

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In an amazing discovery, a team of scientists at King's College London has found a way to stimulate teeth to repair themselves. It might mean an end to dental fillings forever. According to a study published in Scientific Reports, the scientists kept a biodegradable sponge soaked in the drug inside the small cavities in the mice teeth to observe 'complete, effective natural repair'.

The BBC reported that teeth have limited regenerative abilities. It means that while they can produce a thin band of dentine, they cannot repair a large cavity or recover from tooth decay. Dentine is the layer of a tooth which is present just below the enamel.

Till now, dentists used to fill these holes using a composite made of powdered glass and ceramic or a metal amalgam. These dental fillings need to be replaced several times in a person's lifetime.

Now, the scientists have found that a drug called Tideglusib, which was originally being tested for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease can heighten the activity of stem cells in the dental pulp too. The drug was able to repair the hole of the size of 0.13 mm in the teeth of mice.

Prof Paul Sharpe, one of the researchers, said, "The key thing in the whole process is the biodegradable sponge. Hence, as the dentine regenerates and space becomes full of minerals, the sponge is just not there anymore."

The Medical Daily reported that the regenerative medicine could be available in the market quite soon, perhaps within a period of three to five years. The safety work on Tideglusib has already been done, where it was being tested as a potential dementia therapy.

The only hitch remaining is that the experts often raise concerns that the medicines that encourage cells to divide rapidly and repair the damage may cause cancer. In the case of the new medicine, researchers expressed hope that it will come out as a winner and will soon be made commercially available.