The articles self summary pretty much covers the content:
A study out of Japan showed how targeting genes can regrow teeth in animals. Now, the team has turned to a human clinical trial. By targeting the USAG-1 gene, researchers believe that they can help people without a full set of teeth regrow teeth. The team says that humans have a third set of teeth available as buds, ready to grow as needed.
Sounds cool!
I had five wisdom teeth, so I’m 1/32 of the way there already.
Fine print: May grow extra fingers and toes. New teeth not guaranteed to grow straight and may continue growing and be unstoppable. Not responsible for damage to jaw or facial structure.
Me, at 24, with 2 baby teeth still. 😔
If it’s not discomforting, spare few teeth are always a nice thing to have
To clarify, I don’t have extra teeth, the baby teeth had nothing behind them to replace em. Same number of teeth as normal.
oh, no free teef :(
I had a baby tooth removed (it was only held in by the teeth on either side of it, and it was causing problems).
The actual adult tooth is grafted to my skull. They decided that removing it would be an unnecessary and invasive surgery so it’s still up there.
is having a baby tooth problematic in any way (besides the aformentioned trouble)? I imagine them to have weak roots and be more succeptible to corrosion?
It was problematic for me because my baby tooth could move. So it was putting stress on the teeth on either side and that was causing me other dental issues.
The orthodontic surgeon who diagnosed and did my dental work did mention that baby teeth often don’t have a strong root and so they can become problematic in a adult mouth, but if I’m honest my dental health at the time wasn’t great (I had a cavity where a wisdom tooth grew in and put tension on a rear molar and eventually that molar cracked and it turned out that with my wisdom teeth grown in I had a lot of crowding which eventually led to me having all four molars and four wisdom teeth removed.
I also used to suck my thumb as a kid so some of my problems with the baby tooth may have resulted from that pressure as well. My recollection of all my dental work isn’t the greatest so I may have missed some of what the dentist said.
TLDR: If you think your kids don’t need to see a dentist for a whole decade, you’re wrong.
yeah, i’m suffering with dental problems whole life myself, people that happen to have them none or minimal are blessed
ooh, poor lad
Really? Didnt know that was a thing. Does it affect you in anyway?
Nope. Makes no difference, are my front two bottom teeth and literally noone has ever noticed. I told a girlfriend of mine after a year of dating and she was shocked. Friends of 10 years find out and are shocked.
My dad had the same thing. Same two teeth were baby teeth, never came out, had nothing under them. He had them replaced, I haven’t. The only reason to do so would be aesthetic, no dental reason its an issue.
Thats amazing
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
Someone had better get writing a script for a horror movie based on this concept
Beat me to it!
It’s already a thing and causes issues, currently.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/hyperdontia
I’d like to understand the proposed mechanism for controlling it. If we weren’t so close to self-extinction, maybe evolution would have time to better perfect the phenomenon.
How else are we supposed to change into Pak Protectors?
Just be sure to eat your veggies! You will know when the time is right.
I’m reminded of a certain scene from The Algebraist, by Iain M Banks.
