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In medieval times they used to rob teeth from healthy young subjects. It was possible to "implant" those teeth just by jamming them by force into gums. Success

In medieval times they used to rob teeth from healthy young subjects. It was possible to "implant" those teeth just by jamming them by force into gums. Success rate unknown. So you could grow teeth in-vitro from patient's own stemcells and then implant those. I would be safer and not much testing needed.

borissk 3y ago
Interesting. Why do you think it's not being done?
- timonoko 3y ago
  Dont know. Few years back there was even talk about growing new fingers by preventing the growth of scarring tissue. What ever happened to that project?
  - ecuaflo 3y ago
    Longaker lab is at the forefront of anti-scarring from what I know with their verteporfin research around blocking engrailed 1 gene expression during wound healing to prevent fibrosing and encourage perfect wound healing. They’ve only done it on skin though, haven’t seen anything about fingers or limbs
  - fractallyte 3y ago
    The tip of my finger was cut off a few months ago in an accident. Treatment consisted of a breathable dressing which sealed the fingertip around the stump, thereby prevented it from drying out and scarring. It was very smelly and messy for a few weeks, but it worked - my fingertip grew back. It's a bit deformed (because the emergency doctor gave me a 'manicure' before dressing the wound), but it's there. Lots of results on Google if you search for "fingertip regeneration". Otherwise, I can provide academic/medical references.
    - raisedbyninjas 3y ago
      I'd read that children could regrow fingertips. This article suggests that just having the base of the fingernail is what's needed. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/10/190385484/chopped-how-amputated-fingertips-sometimes-grow-back https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/10/1903854...
maxloh 3y ago
Does our technology advanced enough to grow teeth from stem cells?
- dt3ft 3y ago
  There seems to be more useful info here: https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/dental-visits/can-dentists-use-stem-cells-to-grow-teeth-exploring-the-future-possibilities https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/dental-visits/can-...
- timonoko 3y ago
  Dedicated teeth farming is little difficult I reckon. But we can clone a whole body just for spare parts. I bet some rich bastard is already doing that.
  - Mayzie 3y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)
jamal-kumar 3y ago
Medieval times? How about as recent as George Washington? [1] [1] https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washingtons-teeth/george-washington-and-slave-teeth/ https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washing...
- FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
  That's different, those are dead/killed teeth used to make a denture. I don't think they were trying to make them grow in George's gums.
  - jamal-kumar 3y ago
    that's a different theft of a live person's teeth? wild
    - FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
      I wasn't debating the ethics of buying a poor and enslaved person's teeth off them, I just wanted to correct the idea that George was jamming them into his gums hoping they would grow. The teeth were used in dentures. Yes, a social system in which your involuntary labor all goes to your "owner" and in which you are reduced to selling your teeth for spending money is an abhorrent one. It's capitalism ad absurdum. Sure, today people are born "free", but they still have to pay money to keep a roof overhead and food on the table, and that same money can be used, say, for dental procedures that could save teeth, so in a way people still have to make choices about whether they'd rather have money or teeth. They just also have more options for getting money. You can still see the impact of these forced choices in poor people's mouths. The beneficiaries of this indirect coercion -- when restricted to the subject of teeth -- are today mostly dentists, and the actions chosen are mostly inactions (skip treatment, get a cheaper treatment). In those days, the beneficiaries included people who needed dentures, and the actions were less passive: They involved submitting to pliers. On the ethical spectrum, it's somewhere quite a bit worse than buying a wig made of a Pakistani lady's hair, but better than buying a Chinese prisoner's kidney.
YetAnotherNick 3y ago
> Success rate unknown. Is there any known successful case?
- timonoko 3y ago
  In May of 1784, Washington paid several unnamed slaves 122 shillings (£6.10, equivalent to £794 in 2021) for a total of nine teeth to be implanted by a French doctor. Unless you install into fresh socket, the success must have been because of bone-to-bone adhesion.
  - YetAnotherNick 3y ago
    Paid != success. For all we know it could have 0 success rate. We had lot of meaningless or harmful surgeries in the past. I want to know how well it worked in the cases it worked.
reportgunner 3y ago
Reminds me of Walton Goggins' story[0] of how he lost his front teeth. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CxApTXyTxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CxApTXyTxU

borissk 3y ago

Interesting. Why do you think it's not being done?

timonoko 3y ago
Dont know. Few years back there was even talk about growing new fingers by preventing the growth of scarring tissue. What ever happened to that project?
- ecuaflo 3y ago
  Longaker lab is at the forefront of anti-scarring from what I know with their verteporfin research around blocking engrailed 1 gene expression during wound healing to prevent fibrosing and encourage perfect wound healing. They’ve only done it on skin though, haven’t seen anything about fingers or limbs
- fractallyte 3y ago
  The tip of my finger was cut off a few months ago in an accident. Treatment consisted of a breathable dressing which sealed the fingertip around the stump, thereby prevented it from drying out and scarring. It was very smelly and messy for a few weeks, but it worked - my fingertip grew back. It's a bit deformed (because the emergency doctor gave me a 'manicure' before dressing the wound), but it's there. Lots of results on Google if you search for "fingertip regeneration". Otherwise, I can provide academic/medical references.
  - raisedbyninjas 3y ago
    I'd read that children could regrow fingertips. This article suggests that just having the base of the fingernail is what's needed. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/10/190385484/chopped-how-amputated-fingertips-sometimes-grow-back https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/10/1903854...

maxloh 3y ago

Does our technology advanced enough to grow teeth from stem cells?

dt3ft 3y ago
There seems to be more useful info here: https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/dental-visits/can-dentists-use-stem-cells-to-grow-teeth-exploring-the-future-possibilities https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/dental-visits/can-...
timonoko 3y ago
Dedicated teeth farming is little difficult I reckon. But we can clone a whole body just for spare parts. I bet some rich bastard is already doing that.
- Mayzie 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)

jamal-kumar 3y ago

Medieval times? How about as recent as George Washington? [1] [1] https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washingtons-teeth/george-washington-and-slave-teeth/ https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washing...

FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
That's different, those are dead/killed teeth used to make a denture. I don't think they were trying to make them grow in George's gums.
- jamal-kumar 3y ago
  that's a different theft of a live person's teeth? wild
  - FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
    I wasn't debating the ethics of buying a poor and enslaved person's teeth off them, I just wanted to correct the idea that George was jamming them into his gums hoping they would grow. The teeth were used in dentures. Yes, a social system in which your involuntary labor all goes to your "owner" and in which you are reduced to selling your teeth for spending money is an abhorrent one. It's capitalism ad absurdum. Sure, today people are born "free", but they still have to pay money to keep a roof overhead and food on the table, and that same money can be used, say, for dental procedures that could save teeth, so in a way people still have to make choices about whether they'd rather have money or teeth. They just also have more options for getting money. You can still see the impact of these forced choices in poor people's mouths. The beneficiaries of this indirect coercion -- when restricted to the subject of teeth -- are today mostly dentists, and the actions chosen are mostly inactions (skip treatment, get a cheaper treatment). In those days, the beneficiaries included people who needed dentures, and the actions were less passive: They involved submitting to pliers. On the ethical spectrum, it's somewhere quite a bit worse than buying a wig made of a Pakistani lady's hair, but better than buying a Chinese prisoner's kidney.

YetAnotherNick 3y ago

> Success rate unknown. Is there any known successful case?

timonoko 3y ago
In May of 1784, Washington paid several unnamed slaves 122 shillings (£6.10, equivalent to £794 in 2021) for a total of nine teeth to be implanted by a French doctor. Unless you install into fresh socket, the success must have been because of bone-to-bone adhesion.
- YetAnotherNick 3y ago
  Paid != success. For all we know it could have 0 success rate. We had lot of meaningless or harmful surgeries in the past. I want to know how well it worked in the cases it worked.

reportgunner 3y ago

Reminds me of Walton Goggins' story[0] of how he lost his front teeth. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CxApTXyTxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CxApTXyTxU