Fed: Pigs give us something to smile about
By Caroline Gammell
SYDNEY, Dec 12 AAP - A human tooth developed from a pig? Surely someone is telling porkies?
But though it may set your own teeth on edge, that is exactly what a group of Americanscientists have done.
In a revolutionary breakthrough, scientists at the Forsyth Institute in Boston haveused tried and tested tissue engineering techniques to grow tooth structures from thecells of pigs.
The cells taken from the porkers successfully produced dentin and enamel - suggestingthat the stem cell types necessary for growing teeth were already present in the pig'scells.
This is the first time such growth has been achieved and Dr Pamela Yelick from theinstitute said within 10 or 15 years, human teeth could be grown and used in a person'sjaw.
"It would be fantastic - we are very excited about the possibility and we are workingvery hard to make it work," she told ABC radio.
"This is the very beginning step towards the process of bio-engineering human teeth."
She said they hoped to identify which non-human stemcells would be most suitable forgrowing teeth and work out the least invasive way of obtaining those cells and using them.
Dr Yelick said they hoped their immediate findings could be used to produce dentinor enamel to repair teeth.
"We're hoping within five years we will know how to generate whole tooth replacementsand within another 10 or 15 years we will actually be able clinically use these teeththerapeutically."
The scientist said their success could revolutionise dentistry and help people sufferingfrom dental abnormalities.
"There are a lot of really good applications - for children, for example, that areborn without teeth or even jaws, as well as people who somehow are predispositioned tohaving poor oral health."
AAP cg/arb/mg/sb
KEYWORD: TEETH
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