- For many people, their biggest problem is keeping their teeth healthy and clean.
- There are animals, such as geckos, that replace their teeth every 3 or 4 months.
- Some research carried out on mice suggests that teeth could be replaced, but there is a major problem and it lies in our biology.
This is the transcript of the video.
Humans need to go to the dentistIt’s a fact. In 2017 alone, Americans spent $124 billion on dental visits. And an estimated 90% of adults in the United States have fillings. But many animals don’t have that problem, because they can regenerate your teeth replacing the old, damaged ones with new, pearly white ones. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do this? Well, actually, there is one major drawback to this process.
Only a handful of mammals can regenerate their teeth multiple times, compared to the 50,000 species of reptiles and fish. For example, geckos, which They will replace their 100 teeth every 3 or 4 months, and since geckos can live from 6 to 10 years, they grow between 1,800 and 4,000 teeth in their lifetime! All thanks to a special type of cells in their gums, called stem cells.
Stem cells are useful because they can transform into different cells when necessary. Like tooth stem cells for building new teeth. Humans have these stem cells when we are younger. But after our adult teeth grow, the stem cells die and disappear.
To understand why, let’s take a trip back in time. Until about 320 million years ago, when mammals and reptiles diverged. In addition to the many obvious differences, another change that eventually emerged between the two was the shape of the teeth. Reptiles, for example, are what are called generalists. It means that they eat any animal they can sink their teeth into. And for that, they needed teeth of the same size and shape to prevent prey from escaping from their mouths. Mammals, on the other hand, They developed more specialized dietss.
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Like herbivores who only eat grass and hunters, who tear meat from their kills. As a result, mammals developed teeth with different shapes for different purposes. And it is this difference that could also explain why Most mammals cannot regenerate more teethNow, let’s say you would have the ability to regenerate your molars several times, for example.
It is important that the top and bottom matchOtherwise, they cannot grind food as efficiently. It sounds good on the surface, but with each new tooth there is a risk that the newly grown teeth will not align.
So the main theory is that Adult humans cannot regenerate their teeth because it was better for survival Only a set of mature, well-aligned teeth would grow back. However, if you still want your teeth to regrow, there might be a way in the future. Using lasers and drugs, scientists have helped rats and mice regrow damaged tissue in decayed teeth. The idea is that if you can regrow tooth tissue, you can probably regrow entire teeth. No human trials have been done yet, though… So, you’ll have to keep going to the dentist. At least for now.
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