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Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study
- Jeff_Brown 6y agoThe article linked says it causes new teeth to grow in rats and ferrets, and that pugs and dogs are next. It doesn't however talk about targeting that growth to a particular place.
- MauranKilom 6y agoJust pull all teeth and let them regrow at the same time, of course. Next!
- trident5000 6y agoI know you're joking but theres actually people who would pray for a treatment exactly like this. The elderly in particular. Over time all your teeth go. When I'm 60 I wouldnt mind them just ripping them all out if I could regrow them in 3 months.
- mparlane 6y agoWouldn't they fall out like baby teeth do if new teeth grow under to push them out?
- trident5000 6y agoGreat question, that might be even better.
- causality0 6y agoTeeth aren't just pushed out. The roots are dissolved as the adult tooth erupts under the baby tooth. This treatment has a very long way to go.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- kvgr 6y agoI would pay for this and I am 33 and have 5 root cannals fixed. Maybe 3 tooth without fillings. It runs in our family... I also didn't have the best dentists growing up in eastern block. Almost no rentgen on basic fillings or microscope on root cannals, only amalgam filling except front tooth. Now I am in process of redoing badly done fillings with cavities under fillings. Al so I have two teeth taken out because my dentist didnt properly explained to me they could be fixed... If I lived in the middle ages, I would look like a 60 year old with no teeth.
- ectopod 6y ago> The elderly in particular. Over time all your teeth go. This was the view of dentists before WWII. Both of my grandmothers had all their teeth pulled before they were thirty when there was very little wrong with them. "You'll lose them anyway, why not get a nice set of dentures?" They both regretted taking their dentists' advice. My octogenarian mother grew up in a more enlightened age and she still has her teeth. Tooth loss is not inevitable.
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoReally don't want to go through the process of having four impacted wisdom teeth removed again.
- throwawayboise 6y agoDon't rodent teeth grow continuously anyway? That's why they're always gnawing on stuff.
- bigmattystyles 6y agoYea, I remember seeing a picture on reddit years ago where a squirrel, feasting on soft human trash, his teeth didn't wear down and grew outwards in concentric circles until he presumably starved from now not being able to chew even the softest of foods. I don't want to look up the photo, it's sad, but I think it was legit.
- helloworld11 6y agoAt first I read your comment as saying "feasting on soft human flesh" and had some very serious questions about the benefits of helping that squirrel fix its teeth again...
- hutzlibu 6y agoYour teeth are growing a bit, too. (Otherwise they would be grinded down, too) But this is about regrowing a lost tooth.
- dumpsterdiver 6y agoThanks for giving me nightmares tonight.
- mcswell 6y agoFor your dreaming (dis)pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=402xHwQGVsE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=402xHwQGVsE (Conehead goes to the dentist)
- King-Aaron 6y agoI'd just hope that the new teeth at least grow in the mouth
- airhead969 6y agoOn my hands or on my johnson wouldn't be good.
- ectopod 6y agoPeople have been worrying about such things for centuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata
- airhead969 6y agoYup. Probably in a horror movie or two too. Unverified story here from a supposed complication of surgery: https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a19543991/vagina-teeth-bites-penis-sex/ https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a19543991/vagina-teeth-... Also, sharpened anti-rape devices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-rape_device#Physical_deterrents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-rape_device#Physical_dete...
- ClumsyPilot 6y agoas long as they are only growing in your mouth, thats still a solution. Now, having teeth grow om your body randomly, thats a horror movie
- pas 6y agoIt's ... it's ... possible to get cancer in the teeth. If it somehow breaks off and gets into other parts of the body. :| Also don't google teratoma, or "giant neglected ameloblastoma" :(
- EMM_386 6y ago> They found, with animal studies, that suppressing the gene USAG-1 by using its antibody can efficiently lead to tooth growth. And we're sure that suppressing USAG-1 (uterine sensitization associated gene-1) is safe? Since this has "uterine sensitization" in it, it seems like it may affect more than teeth! Just from a quick glance, this says its involved in pregnancy. > Given the remarkably tight restriction of its expression, USAG-1 may be involved in the onset of endometrial receptivity for implantation/sensitization for the decidual cell reaction. https://academic.oup.com/biolreprod/article/67/5/1638/2683873 https://academic.oup.com/biolreprod/article/67/5/1638/268387...
- boomboomsubban 6y agoThere's the possibility that localized suppression would be possible. Even if not, any scientists working on this will be well aware to check for potential health complications before human testing was even started.
- SAI_Peregrinus 6y agoAnd that's also why clinical trials are staged. Some things are harmful to humans that aren't harmful to rats, mice, dogs, monkeys, or other test animals. So a few people enroll in stage 1 trials, which mostly just try to look for obvious toxicity. This will start with a few people, going to a few hundred at most. Stage 2 trials try to figure out dose response: how much of the treatment do you have to give to get a given response. This stage is usually a few thousand people. Stage 3 trials try to figure out if the treatment actually works, and if it has any noticeable safety concerns. Most of the time it doesn't work or has safety issues, but human trial data is notoriously noisy, so it takes a LOT of samples to get a recognizable signal. This stage usually has over ten thousand people. After a treatment is approved it keeps getting monitored for safety. Something like "growing teeth" is more obvious than many outcomes. But the safety issues may not be.
- TaupeRanger 6y agoNot sure at all, that's why clinical trials would be necessary for humans.
- vorpalhex 6y agoSo in a few decades I might have a choice between dentures or tooth regrowth? That'll be nice if it happens.
- gremlinsinc 6y agoMaybe not that long. I'm 41 and have dentures. 18% of people 33-45 have them. 3% of people 18-33 have dentures. I've got a full denture with implant posts on the top, and a partial on the bottom. It's not just a "given" that teeth will hold out till retirement age.
- mrfusion 6y ago18% sounds so high. What’s it like living with them? Any problems? Also congrats on being 41!
- 77pt77 6y agoIs being 41 an achievement?
- mcswell 6y agoYes, because next year s/he will realize the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
- airhead969 6y agoI just turned 43. Babelfish won't help. Get laid as much as you can, eat more fiber, ease off the substances, and DGAFs.
- khuey 6y agoPerhaps this is a regional variation of English but here in the US I've never heard anybody refer to non-removal dental implants as dentures before.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- slacktide 6y agoIn mice.
- Ericson2314 6y agoThe other one would be nice is synthetic gums for grafts. Far from teeth, should be one of the easier things. Lot of research on that one. Just goes to show how lousy the development part of R&D is these days.
- Teever 6y agoThe issue with periodontal tissue as I understand it revolves around a relatively complicated protein scaffold that binds the gums to the teeth. Growing tissue like gums is relatively straight forward -- we do something similar with skin for burns but the actual physical structure that bonds the soft tissue to the hard teeth is complicated to produce and apply in practice.
- xvilka 6y agoI hope someone works on recovering UOX (Urate Oxidase)[1] gene resurrection. It disappeared in one of our predessors making us prone to gout and excessive fat deposition[2]. Recovering this gene will treat both at the same time. [1] https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=UOX https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=UOX [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-019-0487-9 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-019-0487-9
- goodells 6y agoI found the Slate Star Codex article about uric acid interesting [1]. The bit about this gene: > About ten million years ago, the common ancestor of apes and humans got a mutation that broke uricase, causing uric acid levels to rise. The mutation spread very quickly, suggesting that evolution _really_ wanted primates to have lots of uric acid for some reason. Since discovering this, scientists have been trying to figure out exactly what that reason was, with most people thinking it’s probably an antioxidant or neuroprotectant or something else helpful if you’re trying to evolve giant brains. [1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/27/give-yourself-gout-for-fame-and-profit/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/27/give-yourself-gout-for...
- graderjs 6y agoMaybe it functioned as a pheromone somehow (or pheromone precursor) and was aided by sexual selection: stinkiest mates were more attractive and reproduced more. Hehe. Or might make your flesh pungent and not tasty to predators. The 'stinkiest' fish in the world[1] has high levels of urea (so high that its toxic, and while not uric acid these two molecules are related and both are options in metabolic pathways for processing ammonia) and before eating, hákarl needs to be dried in ice sheds in the artic circle for 3 months. Even then it's acquired taste. Still, it seems unlikely primates were hunted by some unknown predator in such large numbers, for evolution to select for those with slightly more pungent flesh to deter such predation, but ... who knows? :P ;) xx [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl
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- giardini 6y agoWhatever progress it may provide, I am certain that dentists and dentists' associations will slowly and surely entomb any process that reduces the sum of their individual annual incomes. I believe Adam Smith called it "the invisible hand" (w/o explicitly noting that the "invisible boot" is jammed into the "invisible customers"' collective asses).
- dannyw 6y agoIt's so sad that most dentists optimise for billable revenue, even at the detriment of long term patient health. Fillings for example always degrade and need repairs after X years. Drilling and filling even the smallest cavity puts that teeth on a lifetime progression to bigger and bigger fillings, eventually a root canal, eventually an implant. Cavities, on the other hand can be arrested (stopped), and if small can even be remineralised. Yes, most dentists don't tell you that! Careful monitoring and patient education on the other hand can lead to permanently keeping that natural teeth, as our teeth are living and can heal. My personal lived experience: a dentist told me I must fill 2 cavities six years ago. I got a second opinion. That dentist told me I should wait, focus on oral care, chew xylitol gum, and use a toothpaste with novamin. Both cavities have "arrested" and need no restorative work. Disclaimer: Not a dentist. Listen to your dentist you trust, and get second opinions if you have doubt.
- donatj 6y agoNovamin toothpaste has been life changing for me. Cannot recommend highly enough. A tooth that was deteriorating and the dentist wanted to cap is now fine enough for them to simply keep an eye on.
- blackrock 6y agoI have never heard of this Novamin toothpaste before. Nor has any of my dentists ever recommended it. It looks like the popular brand is Sensodyne.
- elsonrodriguez 6y ago
- nullserver 6y agoSome tumors can grow teeth. Wonder if this might be a related process. https://www.healthline.com/health/teratoma https://www.healthline.com/health/teratoma
- k_sze 6y agoThat’s interesting. I wonder if the teeth thus formed are recognizable/classifiable as molars/incisors/canines. If so, that could shed further light on the development of the normal teeth.
- airhead969 6y agoTeratomas, IIRC, are often incomplete twins that failed to divide from their siblings.
- benbojangles 6y agoIs this similar to heterotopic ossification after TBI?
- ronyfadel 6y agoI’ve been seeing headlines like this come up once every 6 months for the past 10 years. One can only dream :(
- Proven 6y agoAs long as tooth growth occurs in the right place, that sounds appealing
- lamontcg 6y ago"...can stimulate tooth growth in mice suffering from tooth agenesis, a congenital condition." Cool story if you're a mouse suffering from tooth agenesis.
- TechniKris 6y agoI highly doubt this is intentional, but I wanted to point out a little fun play on words here: USAG-1 written down looks a lot like "usagi" (兎), which in Japanese means "rabbit" – an animal known for its teeth, among other things. :)
- spiritplumber 6y agoMy current dentist arrangement involves getting free cleanings (and consequently a general dental health checkup) as long as I keep the dentist's ancient Macbook operational. I dread the time he retires.
- NiceWayToDoIT 6y agoAlthough amazing, I am following similar news for last 20 years, and promise of tooth regrowth was as a holly grail of dental health, but on the other side it is similar like a nuclear fusion always 20 years away. Process goes like this, "big news -> excitement -> and then nothing -> few years later again nothing -> you go to you dentist for regular check and when you ask he laughs in your face." I read about steam cell re-growth, electric arc repair, calcium filaments instead of "plastic" composts ... and nothing came into fruition. If it ever gets to the market probably I will not need teeth anymore. In this type of economic environment why would dentists allowed everyone to have perfectly healthy teeth? This type of product may succeed only if someone decides to go rogue like Tesla with electric cars, deliberately impacting competitors ...
- mdpopescu 6y agoAs a general rule, the entire medical profession has the incentives set up the wrong way - the more problems you have, the more they benefit. I have read that there was a time, in the distant past, where you paid a doctor only as long as you were healthy. I can come up with some problems even in that case, but I can't help but think it might still be an improvement over the current situation...
- kleiba 6y agothere was a time, in the distant past, where you paid a doctor only as long as you were healthy This sounds implausible, and even if it were true it would not be very fair: it's usually not the doctor's fault when you've got some medical issue, so why should s/he suffer from that financially?
- Tade0 6y agoAlso it creates a major incentive to disregard diseases. What follows is that a dead patient, while not a source of income, is at the same time not a source of costs. I don't see how such an arrangement could work long-term.
- fmsf 6y agothese guys found a polypeptide that can repair enamel but they aren't very well known https://www.curodont.com/ https://www.curodont.com/ edit: correct link for the enamel thingie is this -> https://www.curodont-professional.com/ https://www.curodont-professional.com/. I remember seeing some papers from them justifying this, but cant' find them
- fmsf 6y agoocd kicked in and ended up drilling through their site till I found the list of papers https://www.curodont-professional.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/21-03-01-References-on-CURODONT.pdf https://www.curodont-professional.com/wp-content/uploads/202...
- Black101 6y agoThat can't come soon enough for humans. Dentists are... broken, for lack of a better word.
- xchip 6y agobut only if you have teeth that were supposed to have grown but they haven't.
- amelius 6y agoIs this a widely used technique? I.e. using antibodies to silence genes and what is this technique called?
- mikrosom 6y agoLooks like this could have been discovered at least ~2 years ago? https://twitter.com/yazijys/status/1377219533392449542 https://twitter.com/yazijys/status/1377219533392449542
- ExcavateGrandMa 6y agoHey, I'm looking a sane genetic terminal... with my positron gun/ I'm coming from down 6k lvl/
- heyflyguy 6y agohair please
- happyconcepts 6y agoWhere is the research on shark teeth. I would be much obliged for some direction beyond Google on this.
- jonnycomputer 6y agoIt's what happens after you're bit by Count Dracula.