| Allan I. Abolafia, D.D.S. |  |
Allen W. Ackerman, D.D.S. |
| THE TOOTH TRIBUNE |
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Regrowing New Teeth And Fighting Cavities With Gene Therapy One day soon, dentists may actually be able to grow healthy human teeth. The battle to end cavities and gum disease is being fought with gene therapy, in laboratories across the country. Scientists at the University of Texas at Houston have discovered a master gene that is critical in the development of teeth. They are already able to grow teeth in mice. At the Forsyth Institute in Boston, the process was taken one step further. Researchers placed cells from the gene-seeded teeth of a six-month old piglet near the intestines of rats. That process resulted in the formation of new tooth crowns. Researchers believe that the creation of human teeth might well follow within the next ten years. The refinement of this technology would mean that whenever someone lost a tooth, it would be possible to regrow another, customized right within each person’s mouth. At the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Maryland, researchers are working with another type of gene therapy. They are helping neck cancer patients whose salivary glands no longer work. The researchers are injecting these patients with a super-salivary gene which restores salvation. That work has further implications within dentistry, because we already know that saliva fights cavities. A super-salivary gene code, if included in what we eat, could become our internal cavity fighter. Indeed, what was once science fiction, has become science! |