Wee New Teeth

We’re taught from an early age that our teeth are important and that we should look after them. Sometimes, however, something goes wrong, and we lose teeth. How can they be replaced? What about growing some new ones? Researchers have successfully grown tooth-like structures (left) in ‘artificial gums’ (right) using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – mature cells that have been ‘reprogrammed’ to become stem cells that can then be used to generate new tissues. What’s more, these iPSCs came from humans, and so new teeth could potentially be grown from the cells of the person who needs them. In fact the source of these particular iPSCs was urine. They’re derived from sloughed bladder cells – a normal component of our everyday waste disposal – which puts a whole new slant on the wisdom of recycling.

Written by Robin Hersom

Robin Hersom

Writer

Robin is interning at the Public Engagement, Media and Grants team at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre to learn about science communication, and as part of the job is researching and writing for BPoD.

• Duanqing Pei
• Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license
• Published in Cell Regeneration 2013, 2:6