Exploring Your Options to Regenerate Lost or Missing Teeth

Dental damage is something we all dread, whether you have to have a routine extraction or you’ve lost an adult tooth, the cost and pain you go through can be quite significant. And in some cases, people choose to leave the gap instead of undergoing reconstruction because they can’t justify the cost of having the dental work done.

However, leaving the socket empty might not just have an impact on your appearance. Where there’s an empty space in your mouth, accelerated bone degeneration can occur because the chemicals your tooth normally stimulates aren’t being produced. This is why many explore dental implants. And sometimes the teeth surrounding the gap will move in to fill it, becoming misaligned. All of these reasons are why dentists normally recommend a bridge or crown so you can maintain a healthy dental structure.

Despite this, and even with the option of a dentist open on Saturday, many fail to have the reconstructive work done. But with exciting new scientific discoveries ahead – this could be about to change.

Using Stem Cells to Grow New Teeth

3D printing is already proving to be a revolutionary new method in the manufacturing of bridges and dental implants. But there are even more exciting discoveries being made in dental genetics. In 2010, a tooth was grown by using stem cell DNA by experts from Columbia University. They created a tiny scaffold that helps to direct how the stem cells grow and into what shape. As the scaffold is entirely natural, it can then be implanted in a human body without any risk of damage or infection.

What’s more, if the shape of a tooth can be carefully formed using this organic material; the stem cells can then mold themselves to this, with a bit of persuasion.  As they expand and grow, the cells then start to form the shape of a tooth scaffold, and once they’ve completely taken to this, they can be implanted straight into the mouth. Then, the magic really does start to happen, as the stem cells will then start to fill in the empty socket where the tooth once was, filling it up with new material to secure the tooth into place.

Quicker Healing with Stem Cell Implants

Oral health will benefit vastly from stem cell dental implants because of the very nature of it growing in the place of a lost one and as a natural substance. Artificial crowns are widely used today and whilst most of them are successful there is still a great number that fail due to rejection and misalignment. Implanted teeth may also fall out due to the deterioration of the bone underneath, which doesn’t provide the tooth with the support it needs.

As teeth send out chemical signals through their contact with other teeth, removing a tooth from a row of these connected teeth will break these chemical signals. When this is stopped, the two teeth on either side of the gap will be affected, and may not receive the same amount of growth facilitating hormones as the others. When this occurs, they can start to weaken and may even be lost.

Dentists struggle to stop this degeneration because even through artificial teeth fill in this gap and provide structure to the teeth that surround it; these implants cannot make up for the chemical imbalance that’s occurring. The artificial material used in a traditional implant doesn’t provide the same integration as an organically grown one, like a stem cell implant, which is why many scientists and dentists are so excited about this new discovery.

How Patients Will Be Impacted

It will be a little bit longer before patients will start to see these types of options being available in their dental practice. But the promise of the innovative new dentistry technique promises more efficient and quicker treatments that will be more cost-effective. One only has to look at 3D print technology to see that even though stem cell teeth are revolutionary at present, over time the costs will drop significantly.

3D printed bridgework is becoming increasingly sought after within dental surgeries as it saves money and time for dentists, with these costs then being passed onto their patients. That’s why this latest stem cell breakthrough is incredibly exciting for all dental patients, even if most of us won’t see the effects straight away. The industry will be revolutionized by these discoveries, providing new foundations upon which dentists can perform pioneering treatments that aren’t just better but are more affordable too.

Mike Plambeck is a dental marketing professional who writes about the world of online dental marketing as well as educational dental health topics. He lives in Lincoln, NE and raises 2 kids, Noah and Dani, along with his wife Marissa.