World-first tooth-regrowing drug will be given to humans in September
World-first tooth-regrowing drug will be given to humans in September
The world's first human trial of a drug that can regenerate teeth will begin in a few months, less than a year on from news of its success in animals. This paves the way for the medicine to be commercially available as early as 2030.
A step closer on my childhood dream of becoming a street shark!
Your dream sounds Jawsome!
Captain shark tutu tutu tutu🎶~
Oh wow, that's a show I haven't thought about in a looong time.
This shit better be affordable and covered by health insurance.
Narrator: “It won’t be.”
It will be.
In civilised societies
Heh. You lookin' to buy a bridge, too? I got a couple nice ones on clearance. C'mere a sec.
I do wish that media coverage would stop calling it a regrowth drug. It might get there eventually, but that's not what it is, and it causes issues with people misunderstanding medical science.
The medicine itself deactivates the uterine sensitization-associated gene-1 (USAG-1) protein, which suppresses tooth growth. As we reported in 2023, blocking USAG-1's interaction with other proteins encourages bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling, which triggers new bone to generate. In the ferret study, the drug resulted in the growth of a new tooth (fourth from left), and it also strengthened bone in the existing set. It resulted in new teeth emerging in the mouths of mice and ferrets, species that share close to the same USAG-1 properties as humans.
Am I missing something? It seems like it prompts the body to actually grow new teeth, though I'll admit I am way out of my wheelhouse here.
It's more about the extremely early stages of things. It will be years before it gets to the point it's being used on people that have lost teeth. Right now, it's for people only with congenital lack of teeth.
I'm not saying the drug isn't going there eventually, it likely will. But it's not going to be even tested for other uses for something like two more years (iirc, I'm pulling this from memory over the last year or so that the drug has been reported on) from now, and even that assumes the current testing is successful.
It's an incredibly promising thing that will help a lot of people if it's safe and effective, not just the current targeted population.
I'm actually hyped for this to work out. My working life was partially with geriatric patients. The quality of life loss that goes along with tooth loss is horrible. Then there's the loss of bone density in the jaw after losing the teeth.
My peeve is with the reporting putting the cart before the horse. Bad medical reporting causes problems even more than bad science reporting in general. Report what is, especially in headlines, then cover what might be as a secondary note. Right now, regrowing teeth is not proven capability of the drug for humans. The testing for growing teeth where they've never been hasn't even finished yet.
What is it? I guess the distinction is between regrowth and regeneration. I'll admit regrowth sounded great, because my four front teeth have been shaved down to posts for veneers because of an unfortunate incident with a hockey puck. Sounds like this isn't for me.
It might be some day.
But right now, it's being tested on people that have never had teeth, or at least not a full set.
I have been looking forward to this for 2 decades.
Every dentist I've ever been to has told me that they didn't know when research would be progressing on actual regrowth.
Finally, we're in the maybe soon stage.
Hope the trials go well.
"It appears the drug may be too effective. The test patients have had to start chewing on things to keep their teeth from growing through their own skull."
"Bob, we're still testing it on mice..."
Trials are set to include only adult males at first, then children at later rounds. That's not ideal.
I'm super pumped about the prospect of regrowing teeth though!
Often times people assigned female at birth are excluded from these kinds of medical trials because the female cycle can affect the measurements so much, which can distort the outcome. Still sucks but there's at least medical dispensation to discriminate.
Source: I was excluded from some paid medical test on some grounds and I had a conversation about reasons for exclusions with the people that were rejecting my application :-)
Yep, and then doctors and researchers go all surprised Pikachu face when it turns out that eg. some pain medication doesn't work as well on women, but naturally this conclusion is only arrived at after decades of insisting that they should work and that you're just being an irrational hysterical feeeeemale if you say they don't
Last I heard about this drug, it was focused on people who were missing teeth from birth / due to congenital defects, may work still but not yet applicable to regrowing teeth unfortunately.
Ok but how will they ensure the right teeth get regrown? Imagine waking up to find that your impacted wisdom teeth that you had removed a decade ago had come back
Dentists that specialize in wisdom tooth extraction: 🤑🤑🤑
Side effects include:
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mutated anus
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disappearing retinas
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sudden bone splintering
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genital duplication
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having too many god damned teeth
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[2026]
The dark sky fractures with a thunderous might. Chris and Jane melt into the darkness and slink behind an abandoned cafe. They hear nothing but distant clicking beneath each thunderous bellow ahead. Jane sobs. Chris gives her a warm embrace. He speaks with a vague whisper, "We will be OK, honey. Let's just stick to the plan." Against her will, she let's out a slightly louder sob, then gasps at what she just did. The chattering stops. Her heart pounds. Lightning strikes, and they see it: the abomination had no visible face, just teeth. Decayed teeth against rotting skin. It faces their direction before letting out a terrifying hiss as it dashes towards them, its head split open like a Venus fly trap, revealing a terrifying set of venomous fangs. Chris forcefully grabs her arm, and they run in a panic as several more abominations begin to chase after them. One foot in front of the other. Scan for a clear path. Watch out for obstacles. Find somewhere out of sight, and hide. Be as quiet as possible. Just like the training manual said. Chris desperately looks ahead as his breathing turns shallow; then, his stomach sinks as they come to a chain link fence overlooking a sea of these monsters choking the streets. They were trapped on both sides, and he had to think fast. He spots an open door, and they run for it. He slams it shut, and they begin looking for a hiding place. It appeared to be a break room of sorts; they began making their way past dozens of upturned tables and chairs, finding purchase in a small janitorial closet. "It's going to be alright, sweetheart. Remember what the CDC said, we need to lie low and wait. They only respond to noise." She didn't respond. Quietly, they sit, waiting to be passed over. Strange, erratic breathing fills the closet, and Chris whispers. "Jane, are you okay?" chattering. In a panic, he turns and sees that her face is now deformed with hundreds of teeth. Her head splits open, and with a horrific roar, she lunges at him, and things go black.
Nice writing, I enjoyed that.
Thanks 😅
I'm a human! Pick me!
Teeth (2007) : "soon..."
This is awesome!
