General Question

talljasperman's avatar

Can we clone teeth?

Asked by talljasperman (21916points) June 1st, 2013
4 responses
“Great Question” (1points)

Might make life better for some people who have missing teeth.

Topics: , ,
Observing members: 0
Composing members: 0

Answers

dxs's avatar

I’d say dentures come pretty damn close.

dxs (15160points)“Great Answer” (3points)
poisonedantidote's avatar

About two years ago, I heard about a team that had used stem cells to regrow new teeth in rats, and that it was going to go for clinical trial in humans, and that we could expect to wait 5 years to know more.

I wonder how that is going along.

poisonedantidote (21675points)“Great Answer” (2points)
PhiNotPi's avatar

Edit: please don’t give this a GA. I have a lurve party that’s coming up. I want to be awake when it happens, and I promised someone the ability to host the party.

It sounds like it is close to becoming reality. Mouse teeth have been cloned, but human teeth will be harder due to the size difference. It won’t be too long. It might take a long time for them to be cost-effective, though.

PhiNotPi (12681points)“Great Answer” (1points)
mattbrowne's avatar

We would need to produce stem cells which are “derived from the ectoderm of the first branchial arch and the ectomesenchyme of the neural crest”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_development

mattbrowne (31732points)“Great Answer” (1points)

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.

Older »
Did you expect to live this long?
« Newer
Have you read the Dark Tower series by Stephen ...

Mobile | Desktop


Send Feedback   

`