Fantastic, this is one of those things it seems like should have been developed 30 years ago!
When I was young high schools allowed real science classes with “dangerous” chemicals, etc.
My sophomore biology class had several large glass tanks with various things growing in them.
At the start of each school year, we would go to the local swamp and get several buckets of swamp water to put in the tanks. We would watch all kinds of things grow in the water throughout the school year; mosquito larvae into mosquitoes, tadpoles into frogs, etc.
At the beginning of the school year, my biology teacher would bring in a crayfish and cut one of the pincers/claws off. By the end of the school year, a new claw regrew to nearly the size of the original.
He believed, as did we, that medicine would soon be able to regenerate human teeth, limbs, and organs. After all, we had proof that it could be done.
Of course, we also believed everyone would have flying cars and that cancer would be a thing of the past.
I grew up watching Star Wars and Star Trek and thought the same. But I have to say as someone who loves reading about scientific progress it feels as if we might finally be on the cusp of that future. The amount of technological progress we’re making is staggering and it only seems to be accelerating. I hope we’re all there to see that future.
I’m very skeptical. The challenges to develop tooth buds from primordial cells in the human body are immense, the processes not fully known and difficult to control. What is the “medicine”? More likely they will fade into the sunset as did Frequency Therapeutics with their attempt to regenerate hair cells in the ear to restore hearing and Takashi Tsujii’s efforts to restore hair follicle cells. Maybe by 2040 (the singularity date for biology).
If it works, it will be a great help for these young kids with missing teeth that never came out. exciting!
I am making progress with hair follicles.
There’s a difference between reviving nearly dead hair follicles and outright growing new teeth.
I agree there is. But reviving follicles is possible. I think michael levins work is relevant to growing teeth.