The newspapers have been reporting this week, on new research from King's College that could spell the end to fillings as we know them.
The team at King's College have been looking into a chemical that when applied to holes in mouse teeth caused the pulp of the tooth to repair the hole. Confused?
In order to understand this exciting research, you first have to know that healthy teeth are alive or vital. The middle of the tooth contains a space filled with nerves, cells and blood vessels called the pulp. They tell your brain how hard to chew something. They also repair the tooth if it becomes damaged. The cells in a tooth pulp can react to tooth decay, extreme temperatures or heavy chewing by producing more tooth to act as a barrier. This happens because chemicals are released when the pulp gets an injury that stimulate the cells into action. But the amount the cells in the pulp can repair a tooth are usually quite limited, and certainly they are not usually able to repair a big hole like those filled by dentists.
The team at King's College are researching the chemicals that can make the cells regenerate the tooth. It is a very complicated process because it is not just one chemical but many that all work together to cause more tooth to form. They found a drug called Tideglusib could really enhance this natural repair process.
Using mice, they soaked a biodegradeable sponge in this drug and put it into a tooth cavity before sealing it in. They found that the sponge acted as a scaffold for the pulp cells to produce tooth on. As the sponge broke down it was replaced with tooth! The holes that were "filled" were relatively small. But the research team are now looking at bigger holes and they are confident that this will be something marketed for repairing teeth in the short term future!
So, the end of traditional drilling and filling? Watch this space...
