What do you think of
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109092624.htm
(and many similar articles you can google)...
"A new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells
in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer's drug has been discovered
by a team of researchers at King's College London."
...
"in a paper published in Scientific Reports, scientists from
the Dental Institute at King's College London have proven a way
to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of the tooth
and generate new dentine -- the mineralised material that
protects the tooth -- in large cavities, potentially reducing
the need for fillings or cements. The novel, biological approach
could see teeth use their natural ability to repair large cavities
rather than using cements or fillings..."
and much more info in that article (and others).
--
John Forkosh ( mailto: j@f.com where j=john and f=forkosh )

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On 1/3/2018 6:26 AM, John Forkosh wrote:

What do you think of
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109092624.htm
(and many similar articles you can google)...
"A new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells
in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer's drug has been discovered
by a team of researchers at King's College London."
...
"in a paper published in Scientific Reports, scientists from
the Dental Institute at King's College London have proven a way
to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of the tooth
and generate new dentine -- the mineralised material that
protects the tooth -- in large cavities, potentially reducing
the need for fillings or cements. The novel, biological approach
could see teeth use their natural ability to repair large cavities
rather than using cements or fillings..."
and much more info in that article (and others).

There is no link to the original study, and I don't have academic credentials to access it. As presented, I have a lot of questions. The
"stem cells" referred to apparently are odontoblasts, which in
embryology create the dentin that makes up most of the mass of the
tooth. (The ameloblasts, which form the tooth enamel, are lost when the
tooth erupts into the mouth).
There is nothing new about stimulating the odontoblasts to create new dentin. It is actually a natural protective mechanism of the tooth.
There are a variety of things that can stimulate old odontoblasts to
create dentin. One of these is decay; as decay deepens, the
odontoblasts create secondary dentin to wall off the pulp from the
advancing decay. Most of the time, the decay will outstrip the tooth's
ability to protect itself. But there are other materials, such as MTA
(mineral trioxide aggregate) and calcium hydroxide that will stimulate
dentin formation too.
The problem is that this dentin formation takes place at the surface of the pulp--it will not restore the outer tooth structure that has been
lost, because--unless there is some medium to support vitality away from
the pulp, they just won't get to the surface.
There have been some agents designed to re-calcify the surface of the tooth by applying various mineral-rich solutions. But they won't work
either once the organic matrix of the dentin and enamel are lost.
I may try to hunt this technique down and see if I can get a better handle on just what is going on here. It's nice to know that a drug for Alzheimer's disease has some utility, because a psychiatrist I know is
pretty certain none of them really help Alzheimer's patients.

Happy New Year, John!
Steve

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Steven Bornfeld <dentaltwinmung@earthlink.net> wrote:

On 1/3/2018 6:26 AM, John Forkosh wrote:

What do you think of
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109092624.htm
(and many similar articles you can google)...
"A new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells
in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer's drug has been discovered
by a team of researchers at King's College London."
...
"in a paper published in Scientific Reports, scientists from
the Dental Institute at King's College London have proven a way
to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of the tooth
and generate new dentine -- the mineralised material that
protects the tooth -- in large cavities, potentially reducing
the need for fillings or cements. The novel, biological approach
could see teeth use their natural ability to repair large cavities
rather than using cements or fillings..."
and much more info in that article (and others).

There is no link to the original study, and I don't have academic credentials to access it. As presented, I have a lot of questions. The "stem cells" referred to apparently are odontoblasts, which in
embryology create the dentin that makes up most of the mass of the
tooth. (The ameloblasts, which form the tooth enamel, are lost when the tooth erupts into the mouth).
There is nothing new about stimulating the odontoblasts to create new dentin. It is actually a natural protective mechanism of the tooth.
There are a variety of things that can stimulate old odontoblasts to
create dentin. One of these is decay; as decay deepens, the
odontoblasts create secondary dentin to wall off the pulp from the
advancing decay. Most of the time, the decay will outstrip the tooth's ability to protect itself. But there are other materials, such as MTA (mineral trioxide aggregate) and calcium hydroxide that will stimulate
dentin formation too.
The problem is that this dentin formation takes place at the surface of
the pulp--it will not restore the outer tooth structure that has been
lost, because--unless there is some medium to support vitality away from
the pulp, they just won't get to the surface.
There have been some agents designed to re-calcify the surface of the tooth by applying various mineral-rich solutions. But they won't work
either once the organic matrix of the dentin and enamel are lost.
I may try to hunt this technique down and see if I can get a better handle on just what is going on here. It's nice to know that a drug for Alzheimer's disease has some utility, because a psychiatrist I know is
pretty certain none of them really help Alzheimer's patients.

Happy New Year, John!
Steve

Thanks for the detailed info, Steve. Yeah, the new-dentin-but-not-enamel
had crossed my mind, but not any of your other caveats. A Fox-News
broadcast, "best new ideas of 2017" had this as one of its segments,
which is what prompted me to subsequently google it. But neither the
segment nor anything I googled mentioned alternatives (your MTA, CaOH),
or mentioned the apparently somewhat prosaic nature of the research
as you elaborated it. They made it sound (at least to me) entirely novel
and revolutionary. (I'd also come across silver nitrate/sdf while
googling this stuff, but those discussions were much more sober-minded,
so I'd realized it wasn't being touted as a revolutionary new treatment.)
And too bad about the Alzheimer's -- I was hoping to maybe kill two birds
with one ... what's that other word for "rock"? :)
And ditto, Happy New Year!
--
John Forkosh ( mailto: j@f.com where j=john and f=forkosh )

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