I got a Q for anyone with knowledge of genetics…
With the new data from the Human Genome Project, is there any possibility of scientists being able to trigger the human body to grow a new set of teeth? Is it a gene that triggers toddlers to loose their baby teeth in the first place?
Sorry, that’s two questions… but I have bad teeth and want new ones…
I’m not sure about the gene aspect of this, but toddlers lose their baby teeth because a child’s mouth is much smaller than an adult one. As we grow from children into adults, we need larger teeth to fill our mouths.
There are rare cases of people regrowing full sets of teeth when the originals were knocked out, so yes it’s theoretically possible for the human body to do this, but if your teeth are congenitially bad ie naturally malformed /discolored (vs a decay or disease based problem) regrowing a new set of malformed choppers will hardly solve the problem.
Your best bet is simply to get a full set of caps. This is expensive (several thousands+ I think) but is more attainable than than the billions you’ll have to invest in research and testing to get a magic genetic bullet that will force your choppers to drop out and then regrow themselves.
Well, more on the genetic side than the teeth side, I’ll just say that there will still be a lot to do after the HGP is done to make use of the information. We’ll have the gene sequences, but finding out what the genes make and what those proteins do will still be a huge job. It’s not like they’re reading along the chromosome and there’s a sign that says: “Gene for making new teeth - next 3 exits.”
I’ve probably toss this into the board several times so just close your eyes if your read it before. Right now and for the past few years experiments have been going on (mice) to tell what exactly a section of the gene does. They remove a section (“knock out” might be the term most often used) of mice genes and then grow a mouse without that section.
Then they see what happens to the mouse and go back and put the sequences back in and all kinds of fancy stuff.
The May 2000 discove magazine had a short piece about this on page 15. A set of genes that should have influenced the brain but produced an animal that lacked fingers and toes.
So if you are patient you might get those teeth, but they might be mice teeth.
Speak of the devil… A story just came out today on this very subject:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,37056,00.html
I’ll quote a couple of graphs under fair use, go read the rest of it at their website…
Say Goodbye to Pesky Bridges
Reuters
2:20 p.m. Jun. 16, 2000 PDT
NEW YORK – It might sound like something out of Star Trek, but soon scientists may be able to help patients regrow missing teeth, dental researchers say.
When it is perfected, tooth regeneration may replace dentures and dental implants as the best way to restore lost teeth, said Dr. Mary MacDougall, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio…
Thanks Chas! That was most informative, and gived me hope for the future…