Dental Care Articles

Those afraid of their dentist may have a unique reprieve on the horizon. The Daily Mail, UK’s leading newspaper, announced on July 27 an incredible cosmetic and medical breakthrough: a gel that has successfully helped to spur the re-growth of decayed teeth.

“The gel, which is being developed by scientists in France, works by prompting cells in teeth to start multiplying,” reporter Pat Hagan writes. “They then form healthy new tooth tissue that gradually replaces what has been lost to decay.”

The innovative gel was developed by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris. In the initial lab studies, the gel showed the ability to restore teeth back to their original, healthy state within a four weeks. Researchers indicate that the success of the gel is likely melanocyte-stimulating hormone, or MSH. The team mixed MSH with a chemical called poly-L-glutamic acid to create a gel, which they rubbed on cells taken from extracted human teeth. In the next phase, they rubbed MSH on the decaying teeth of laboratory mice.

“There are a lot of exciting developments in this field, of which this is one,” Damien Walmsley, the British Dental Association’s scientific adviser, tells Fox News. “It looks promising, but we will have to wait for the results to come back from clinical trials and its use will be restricted to treating small areas of dental decay.”

MSH is a naturally-occurring chemical within the human body. Produced in the pituitary gland, it’s already known to play a role in determining skin color, similar to melatonin. But MSH also plays a role in the development of bone growth throughout the body — something that scientists attached to the dental gel are hoping to capitalize on. Teeth and bones share a virtually identical chemical structure, meaning that success in regenerating healthy teeth could be viewed as reasonably indicative that bones can likewise be produced to similar satisfactory results. With stem cells continuing to create controversy despite their proven track record, the MSH gel may be able to cut through the politics to deliver an amazing medical breakthrough.

In recent weeks, headlines have trumpeted countless medical and scientific advances increasing functionality and quality of life for individuals with missing body parts. From Oscar the cat receiving a custom set of bionic limbs to commercially-available robotic exoskeletons, more progress than ever before is being made developing and executing mobility options for individuals who have lost limbs. According to ABCNews, many groups are working in this new field of regenerative medicine.

A similar procedure was recently tried on rabbits in the United States. Writing in the Lancet medical journal, the researchers from three schools — Columbia University in New York, Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Missouri — said they set out to make an artificial joint using a biomaterial made out of polycaprolactone and hydroxyapatite.

“They replicated a rabbit’s leg joint using a laser to calibrate the structure,” Maggie Fox writes on July 28. “They infused this porous bone scaffold with a growth factor — a compound that stimulates cells to grow. In this case it was transforming growth factor beta-3.”

The study found that 10 rabbits who had their joints infused with the growth factor were moving around normally within a month. More surprisingly, the rabbits implanted with the artificial bones re-grew their own joints, complete with cartilage. The findings suggest an “optimistic alternative” to traditional metal joints, which only last about 15 years, according to Columbia’s Jeremy Mao, who lead the study.

“At this the whole joint really has undergone substantial breakdown,” Mao tells ABCNews. “It’s your own joint. It is the joint you made the second time around.”

Such progress could be especially meaningful for amputees, particularly active-duty troops and discharged veterans. US troops injured in Iraq have twice the likelihood of becoming amputees as those that served in previous wars and armed conflicts. According to Roy Aaron, of Brown Medical School, the current veteran’s administration medical system “literally cannot handle the load” of amputees.

“Amputee research has never been a high priority because it’s not fashionable,” Aaron tells The Boston Globe in 2004. “Iraq has changed that.”

Which means that, if MSH can live up to expectations, the nearly 2,000 amputees from the war in Iraq will be in a unique position to benefit from it. While the history of prosthetics has always been closely linked with restoring the casualties of warfare — or, building Human 2.0 — MSH is the first recent biomedical breakthrough which could likewise hold promise for non-veterans.

However, some experts caution that the new gel hasn’t been fully developed and initial response should limit enthusiasm. David Pashley, a professor at the Medical College of Georgia, says that the publicity which has followed MSH has “missed the point.”

“It blew it out of proportion and said it’s the biggest thing since fluoride. Not really,” Pashley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You can’t just squirt a gel or put something in a cavity and hope something works.”

Pashley acknowledges that the technology being employed by the MSH team will eventually work, but will take time. He guesses the real breakthrough for dentistry won’t take place for another decade, directly contradicting news stories that are heralding MSH as “an end to the dentist’s drill.” Pashley cautions that trips to the dentist will need to continue being the norm.

The process of drilling teeth and filling them is safe, effective and established; dentists fill millions of cavities each year. While the chemicals used to numb the pain have improved, most research indicates the phobia of dentists lies elsewhere, such as the sound of the drill or the appearance of any dental tools. This pervasive fear may also be motivating news sources to look earnestly at MSH as an option for people to avoid the dentist’s chair.

But MSH-containing films or gels only treat cavities; they don’t prevent them. People will still need to practice an active regiment of cavity prevention, including brushing and flossing. Adding insult to injury, the vast majority of teeth that develop cavities would still need to be filled, according to Discovery News.

But not all hope is lost. Hom-Lay Wang, a dentist at the University of Michigan, tells Discovery News that treating cavities without drilling would “have its advantages.”

“Cavities and drilling can destroy the nerves and blood vessels inside a tooth, making it more brittle and likely to fracture,” Discover News reports. “Regenerating a tooth could help avoid crowns after a cavity has been filled.”

As the medical advances continue, society can only wonder what other innovations are in store to make us better, faster, stronger.

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