#dentin

(Radionic) Tooth-Healing Hypervisual

Teething Issues

Stem cells promise a sort of biological alchemy – the ability to create almost anything from a generic starting point. They're cells of almost unlimited potential, and have researchers and doctors alike excited at the prospect of engineering new tissue to repair or replace damaged or aged material in the body. But harnessing their full potential is challenging, and not all stem cells are the same. Their location in the body can dictate their ultimate use. Now a study has discovered a new population in teeth. These stem cells (picture in green, migrating through a mouse tooth section) multiply to help form dentin – the tough material that covers teeth. The study also identified a key gene involved in these cells’ production and regulation, raising hopes that we may one day be able to control them, calling them into action to tackle tooth decay or damage.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Jemma Victoria Walker, Heng Zhuang, and colleagues

Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Peninsula Dental School, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)

Research published in Nature Communications, August 2019

Scientists develop material that could regenerate dental enamel

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have developed a new way to grow mineralised materials which could regenerate hard tissues such as dental enamel and bone.

Enamel, located on the outer part of our teeth, is the hardest tissue in the body and enables our teeth to function for a large part of our lifetime despite biting forces, exposure to acidic foods and drinks and extreme temperatures. This remarkable performance results from its highly organised structure.

However, unlike other tissues of the body, enamel cannot regenerate once it is lost, which can lead to pain and tooth loss. These problems affect more than 50 per cent of the world's population and so finding ways to recreate enamel has long been a major need in dentistry.

The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that this new approach can create materials with remarkable precision and order that look and behave like dental enamel.

🍪 Cookie Monster Tooth 🍪

C is for Cookie but also for Cavity!

There is a certain amount of irony in finding this familiar face in an electron micrograph of a dentinal tubule in a tooth.

i❤️histo

This electron micrograph shows a cross section through a region of the dentin of a tooth. Dentin is the mineralized material that lies immediately below the enamel crown of your teeth. It isn’t quite as hard as enamel but, unlike enamel, it can be replaced and repaired by the cells that secrete it - odontoblasts. The odontblasts secrete enamel from long cytoplasmic processes called odontoblast processes.

These odontoblasts lie deep in your tooth in a region called the pulp. The pulp is the hollowed out area inside your tooth that is filled with the nerves, blood vessels and connective tissue that keep your tooth alive.

The odontoblasts line the periphery of this pulp chamber and each one extends a long odontoblast process along a tunnel that runs through the dentin toward the dentino-enamel junction. Yes! Your dentin is full of holes! In the image the blotchy dark gray background is mineralized dentin and the space within a single dentinal tubule running through this dentin is the blue of Cookie Monster’s fur. His mouth is an odontoblast process that has been cut in cross section as it runs through the middle of this tubule.   

So what about his eyes? What else could be running in that tubule? Well, those of you with sensitive teeth know more about these ‘eyes’ than you might think. That is because, traveling alongside the odontoblast process in each dentinal tubule are tiny myelinated a-delta nerve fibers. These fibers are sensory fibers that are particularly responsive to temperature. They are myelinated which makes them convey electrical signals quicker than non-myelinated fibers. This explains that short, sharp pain that accompanies a sensitive tooth, particularly if the dentin is exposed or if you bite into some delicious cold ice-cream.

Image submitted by ‘anonymous’

Researchers have identified a drug that can regenerate teeth from the inside out, possibly reducing the need for artificial fillings.

The drug was previously used in Alzheimer’s clinical trials, and it now appears to improve the tooth’s natural ability to heal itself. It works by activating stem cells inside the tooth's pulp centre, prompting the damaged area to regenerate the hard dentin material that makes up the majority of a tooth.

"The simplicity of our approach makes it ideal as a clinical dental product for the natural treatment of large cavities, by providing both pulp protection and restoring dentine," said lead author Paul Sharpe from King’s College London.

"In addition, using a drug that has already been tested in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease provides a real opportunity to get this dental treatment quickly into clinics."

Cavities are a common issue caused by tooth decay, which happens when certain bacteria create acid that can wear away your tooth’s enamel and the layer beneath it, called dentin. If you think you might need some help, don’t hesitate to call Smilexcellence to set up an appointment! We’re here to help you keep your smile healthy.