5 ms·

I get the impression that they're targeting the easy case first since stimulating tooth growth there is causing what was supposed to happen anyways, with less l

I get the impression that they're targeting the easy case first since stimulating tooth growth there is causing what was supposed to happen anyways, with less likelihood of conflict with the existing teeth. But the article makes it sound plausible that it'd work for normal adults too in that new tooth growth would occur. It's just unclear how/if they guide that growth to a specific area, or if it has to be wholesale replacement of the set of teeth like losing your baby teeth. Maybe what will happen is once you get to a certain point of dental misery you just get on the medicine blocking USAG-1 and have all the remaining teeth pulled, then wait for the new teeth to grow in...

fendy3002 3y ago
CMIIW, but when baby teeth is already grown (appear), the other adult set is actually kept hidden inside, not that it grow. I guess it won't be simply as stimulate teeth growth like nail.
- lelanthran 3y ago
  > CMIIW, but when baby teeth is already grown (appear), the other adult set is actually kept hidden inside, not that it grow. Yup. See this skull of a child with the adult teeth ready to come out and push the baby teeth out of the way (warning, some people find the image very repulsive, even though it's basically a textbook picture of a skull): https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9541/is-this-image-about-child-teeth-development-accurate https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9541/is-this-im...
  - dotnet00 3y ago
    I think it comes off as more repulsive because we're not used to seeing those parts of the skull cut away, putting it in the uncanny valley. What helped me to not be as repulsed by it was realizing that those parts of the skull aren't meant to be "uncovered" to show the adult teeth in the first place.
  - toyg 3y ago
    The human body is so amazing... It evolved to ship ready-made replacement parts to ensure the product would complete its deployment (reaching puberty and reproducing for a decade or two).
mcswell 3y ago
This is all hypothetical, of course, but: you don't have to lose all your baby teeth in order for your adult teeth to come in. Somehow an adult tooth coming in causes the baby tooth's root to dissolve (if that's the right word) and then pushes the remaining baby tooth out of the way. So you might not need to lose your adult teeth in order for the next-gen teeth to come in.
im3w1l 3y ago
Some animals have continuosly growing teeth. Maybe with the right chemicals that could be encouraged in humans too.
- Loughla 3y ago
  It seems like turning on a switch for continuously growing anything is a recipe for cancer. Modern medicine and what it accomplishes continues to absolutely astound me with what is possible.
  - therein 3y ago
    An unconditional one is but selectivity and reversibility is the key. Nothing makes that unachievable, just more complicated. Teeth growth is a good target for such experimentation. Given its relatively easily operable nature allowing convenient observation of progress and intervention if needed. We already can accelerate the regrowth of fingernails after losing one. This is the next easiest target if you ask me.
    - pengaru 3y ago
      A shorter path to market might be to grow replacements in a sacrificial host using harvested stem cells from the recipient. Transplanting into the socket once sufficiently developed, with some of the magic sauce topically applied at the interface to promote it all taking root and growing into its new home... It sounded like they were doing experiments with transplants as well in one of the papers I skimmed. I might actually prefer that approach if it had a high success rate, to replace a thoroughly trashed tooth. Seems preferable to exposing oneself to the new treatment for the entire duration of tooth development. Especially if all you need is one replacement...

fendy3002 3y ago

CMIIW, but when baby teeth is already grown (appear), the other adult set is actually kept hidden inside, not that it grow. I guess it won't be simply as stimulate teeth growth like nail.

lelanthran 3y ago
> CMIIW, but when baby teeth is already grown (appear), the other adult set is actually kept hidden inside, not that it grow. Yup. See this skull of a child with the adult teeth ready to come out and push the baby teeth out of the way (warning, some people find the image very repulsive, even though it's basically a textbook picture of a skull): https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9541/is-this-image-about-child-teeth-development-accurate https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9541/is-this-im...
- dotnet00 3y ago
  I think it comes off as more repulsive because we're not used to seeing those parts of the skull cut away, putting it in the uncanny valley. What helped me to not be as repulsed by it was realizing that those parts of the skull aren't meant to be "uncovered" to show the adult teeth in the first place.
- toyg 3y ago
  The human body is so amazing... It evolved to ship ready-made replacement parts to ensure the product would complete its deployment (reaching puberty and reproducing for a decade or two).

mcswell 3y ago

This is all hypothetical, of course, but: you don't have to lose all your baby teeth in order for your adult teeth to come in. Somehow an adult tooth coming in causes the baby tooth's root to dissolve (if that's the right word) and then pushes the remaining baby tooth out of the way. So you might not need to lose your adult teeth in order for the next-gen teeth to come in.

im3w1l 3y ago

Some animals have continuosly growing teeth. Maybe with the right chemicals that could be encouraged in humans too.

Loughla 3y ago
It seems like turning on a switch for continuously growing anything is a recipe for cancer. Modern medicine and what it accomplishes continues to absolutely astound me with what is possible.
- therein 3y ago
  An unconditional one is but selectivity and reversibility is the key. Nothing makes that unachievable, just more complicated. Teeth growth is a good target for such experimentation. Given its relatively easily operable nature allowing convenient observation of progress and intervention if needed. We already can accelerate the regrowth of fingernails after losing one. This is the next easiest target if you ask me.
  - pengaru 3y ago
    A shorter path to market might be to grow replacements in a sacrificial host using harvested stem cells from the recipient. Transplanting into the socket once sufficiently developed, with some of the magic sauce topically applied at the interface to promote it all taking root and growing into its new home... It sounded like they were doing experiments with transplants as well in one of the papers I skimmed. I might actually prefer that approach if it had a high success rate, to replace a thoroughly trashed tooth. Seems preferable to exposing oneself to the new treatment for the entire duration of tooth development. Especially if all you need is one replacement...