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Grow your own teeth - 28th April 2025
Scientists have grown human teeth in a laboratory for the first time. The team were from Kings College and Imperial College London.
Their discovery's important for tooth care. Dentists won't need to give patients fillings and implants. They'll turn our cells into new teeth which can repair themselves like our own teeth.
Xuechen Zhang's a scientist at Kings College. He thinks that lab-grown teeth "would be stronger, longer lasting" than implants or fillings.
Unlike humans, many animals can produce new teeth. This interested Dr Ana Angelova-Volponi, who's also from Kings College. She likes the idea of "replacing the tooth in a biological way".
After 10 years of research, they created a new material. This lets cells receive messages to turn into tooth cells.
The next step's to implant a tooth into a person. One way's to place young tooth cells into the mouth to grow there. Another option's to wait until the tooth is fully grown in the laboratory.
The team thinks that these developments will totally change dental care. And they're part of a new direction in science and medicine. Scientists want to use stem cells to replace other damaged parts of the body.
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