Dentures, implants, and even root canals could be a thing of the past if a new drug that is being developed can successfully regrow teeth. Human trials will begin in 2024 and the drug could be available by 2030.
Could It Be Possible to Regrow Teeth?
We trim and regrow nails and hair throughout our lifetimes.
However, male pattern baldness and female pattern baldness are the result of DHT or dihydrotestosterone, a derivative of testosterone. The DHT binds to androgen receptors within hair follicles, causing them to shrink and hair to stop growing. DHT exists in everyone, but with male pattern baldness, an individual’s genetics determine their sensitivity to the DHT hormone. Thus, the extent of their pattern baldness.
Similarly, humans have proteins in the mouth that suppress tooth growth. It is precisely these proteins that scientists are targeting. In a nutshell, by inhibiting these proteins, it may be possible to regrow teeth.
Promising Drug for Regrowing Teeth to Begin Trials
Japanese pharmaceutical company Toregem Biopharm announced it is developing a new antibody drug that inhibits the mouth’s proteins responsible for suppressing tooth growth.
Specifically, the drug under development targets a gene called USAG-1, which is responsible for stopping “tooth buds” from developing into either baby or permanent teeth. Most people have these “tooth buds.”
The company believes that by inhibiting USAG-1, their new drug will stimulate the growth of tooth buds, Futurism reported.
The company has been working on a project for some time. In 2018, Toregem Biopharm achieved promising results in research using ferrets, which have similar tooth buds to humans. They reported the animals grew new teeth successfully.
“[Our] final goal is to offer advanced and scientifically driven clinical solution for the growth of teeth derived from their own tissues,” Toregem’s president Honoka Kiso wrote in a statement on the company’s website.
Toregem Biopharm says it will begin human clinical trials in July 2024, and based on the results, the company hopes to bring the drug to market by 2030, the Japan Times reported. Toregem plans to begin clinical trials on children between the ages of 2 and 6 in 2025, specifically focusing on those with anodontia, a genetic disorder that stops them from developing permanent teeth.
Could Dentures and Implants Become a Thing of the Past?
The company hopes their drug will also help adults who have lost teeth due to cavities.
“The idea of growing new teeth is every dentist’s dream,” said Katsu Takahashi, co-founder and lead researcher.
“I’ve been working on this since I was a graduate student.” Takahashi, head of the dentistry and oral surgery department at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, told Japanese newspaper The Mainichi earlier this year. “We’re hoping to see a time when tooth-regrowth medicine is a third choice alongside dentures and implants.”
