Implants will remain the best way to replace single missing teeth for now. However, researchers have found an important marker for dental stem cells, which can "grow" a tooth. To build a tooth, a detailed cell "recipe" is necessary to instruct cells to differentiate towards proper lineages and form for tooth replication. Researchers in the group of Professor Irma Thesleff at the Institute of Biotechnology in Helsinki, Finland have now found a marker for dental stem cells, called transcription factor Sox2. Through a clever marking system using cells that were labeled, they showed that the cells differentiate into ameloblasts. Research is now a bit closer to developing a bioengineered tooth. Until more research is available, implants are effective in single tooth replacements. What implant systems are most effective for your practice? Do you use guided systems or place your implants freehand? What lessons learned about implants can you share with your colleagues?
boards.medscape.com/forum...09gWL@.2a33d6d3!comment=1
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2012 Apr 1;4(4):a008425. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a008425. Signaling networks regulating tooth organogenesis and regeneration, and the specification of dental mesenchymal and epithelial cell lineages. Jussila M, Thesleff I. Source
Developmental Biology Program Institute of Biotechnology, Biokeskus 1, P.O. Box 56, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FIN-00014, Finland. maria.jussila@helsinki.fi Abstract
Teeth develop as ectodermal appendages from epithelial and mesenchymal tissues. Tooth organogenesis is regulated by an intricate network of cell-cell signaling during all steps of development. The dental hard tissues, dentin, enamel, and cementum, are formed by unique cell types whose differentiation is intimately linked with morphogenesis. During evolution the capacity for tooth replacement has been reduced in mammals, whereas teeth have acquired more complex shapes. Mammalian teeth contain stem cells but they may not provide a source for bioengineering of human teeth. Therefore it is likely that nondental cells will have to be reprogrammed for the purpose of clinical tooth regeneration. Obviously this will require understanding of the mechanisms of normal development. The signaling networks mediating the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions during morphogenesis are well characterized but the molecular signatures of the odontogenic tissues remain to be uncovered.
PMID: 22415375 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22415375
Poster Comment:
It's about time this most backward of health professions came up a permanent, natural solution for missing teeth. Much of their current patchwork is "temporary" and even a health hazard, almost in the nature of planned obsolescence.