Scientists develop material that could regenerate dental enamel
People with a low pain thresh-hold will welcome this new technology. They’ve developed a material that would regenerate dental enamel. Rebuilding your teeth on the spot.
“Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have developed a new way to grow mineralised materials which could regenerate hard tissues such as dental enamel and bone.” Quoted from a ScienceDaily article.
Creating both the enamel and bone would be a lot better than paying for fillings. I doubt it will do much to take root canals off the dental menu. We’re talking exterior matters. So roots and missing teeth might be excepted. Until the next level of development comes about.
“Coating the outer part of the teeth, enamel is the hardest tissue in the body and can resist extreme temperatures and acidic food and drinks, helping it last for decades. But unlike other tissues in the body, once it is lost it cannot regrow – leading to pain and tooth loss for around 50% of the world’s population.” Quoted from a Telegraph article.
The effort is to “reverse-engineer natural process” as aided by fundamentals of biology and chemistry leveraged through AI, the technologies that make the result exponentially usable. The new development is set to disrupt the recently formed tooth implant industry. Interesting how one new technology disrupts another. It’s all happening so quickly. Implants are a result of functional technology. Efficiently made and situated teeth that are better than the old false teeth. But reclaiming the tooth with a fresh coat of enamel has a brighter more natural ring to it.
So producing bone and enamel at an even earlier stage to keep the natural teeth one has is the greatest application. Prevention is appealing. Preventative re-enameling will replace cleaning and whitening. Dr Sherif Elsharkawy, a dentist and first author of the study, said: “This is exciting because the simplicity and versatility of the mineralisation platform opens up opportunities to treat and regenerate dental tissues.”
Of course, this doesn’t eliminate the need for brushing. Or flossing. But it certainly does encourage a lot more smiling.
