Tooth germ successfully bioengineered

A research team has successfully bioengineered a tooth germ that develops into a fully functioning bioengineered tooth with sufficient hardness for mastication and a functional responsiveness to mechanical stress in the maxillofacial region.

The research also provided the results that the nerve fibres that have re-entered the pulp and periodontal ligament (PDL) tissues of the bioengineered tooth have proper perceptive potential in response to noxious stimulations such as orthodontic treatment and pulp stimulation.

The research group, led by Takashi Tsuji, a professor in the Research Institute for Science and Technology at Tokyo, has demonstrated growing the teeth in adult mice.

This research is expected to substantially advance the development of ‘tooth regenerative therapy’, which has potential to replace diseased or damaged teeth with bioengineered teeth.

The paper has been published in Proceeding of the National Academy of Science – see www.pnas.org for the full article.