Replacing missing teeth typically involves surgical procedures, including the placement of titanium implants that integrate with the jawbone before a crown or cap is attached. However, research teams worldwide are investigating ways to grow biological teeth that could one day offer an alternative to traditional restorative methods.
At King’s College London, Dr Ana Angelova Volponi, director of the postgraduate program in regenerative dentistry, has been experimenting with lab-grown teeth for nearly two decades. In 2013, her team successfully developed a tooth structure using a combination of human and mouse cells. Building on this work, her latest study focuses on enhancing the environment in which teeth are formed, utilising materials that more closely resemble natural biological conditions within the mouth.
The idea of generating teeth in a laboratory dates back to the 1980s. Volponi’s earlier research was the first to use adult human gingival cells — obtained from the inside of the mouth — and combine them with progenitor tooth cells from a mouse embryo. The process relies on two types of cells interacting within a supporting material known as a “scaffold”.
The team’s recent study replaces the collagen scaffold previously used with a hydrogel, a polymer containing a high level of water. The hydrogel was developed in collaboration with Imperial College London and enables tooth-like structures to form after about eight days of growth. Although the current experiments still rely on mouse cells, researchers hope that human cells will eventually replace them to produce fully biological human teeth.
Significant challenges remain before this technology can be applied in clinical settings. Scientists are still investigating how to encourage adult human cells to replicate the behaviour of embryonic cells during tooth formation. If achieved, Volponi suggests two possible clinical applications: growing a tooth partway in the laboratory and allowing it to complete development within the jaw, or growing a full tooth before surgically implanting it.
The advantages of real teeth
A biological replacement derived from a patient’s own cells could integrate more naturally with surrounding tissues and avoid the inflammation or rejection risks sometimes associated with synthetic implants.
Dr Vitor C M Neves, senior clinical lecturer at the School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, noted that Volponi has played a significant role in advancing research into whole-tooth regeneration and has influenced many in the field. Commenting on her recent study, which focuses on the use of matrices in the development and potential scaling of this technology, Dr Neves said the findings underscore the importance of creating suitable environments to support whole-tooth engineering for clinical use. He added that continued collaboration among researchers could help accelerate progress in this area.
Several research groups are pursuing similar goals using different methods. In Japan, Dr Katsu Takahashi and colleagues at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital are developing an antibody-based therapy aimed at stimulating tooth growth in individuals with congenital tooth absence. The treatment has entered human clinical trials.
At Tufts University in the US, Professor Pamela Yelick’s team has grown tooth-like structures in pigs using a combination of human and pig cells, with the long-term objective of encouraging natural tooth regeneration in humans. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Washington, led by Professor Hannele Ruohola-Baker, have generated dental pulp stem cells from human stem cells obtained from wisdom teeth, aiming to replicate the developmental processes of natural tooth formation.
Although the application of these findings in clinical dentistry remains some years away, researchers agree that advances in regenerative dentistry are progressing rapidly. Many believe that biological tooth repair or replacement could become a practical option within the next decade.
Source: CNN
