• @[email protected]
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    322 years ago

    If we learn how to regrow teeth, I wonder if we’ll learn how to regrow bones after that.

    • @[email protected]
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      132 years ago

      Soon we’ll be farming volunteer humans for bone marrow stew. Sign up, have several bones removed—femur, tibia, you name it—and cracked open for that sweet juicy marrow. Then a steady supply of bone growing pills to start the process all over again.

      • @[email protected]
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        82 years ago

        This is basically the plot to The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, minus the volunteering portion

        • @[email protected]
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          42 years ago

          Let’s be honest, once you get the taste for marrow stew the no volunteering part is merely an obstacle.

  • @[email protected]
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    142 years ago

    Looking forward to seeing this. It may not benefit me, hut I hope it benefits the future.

    • @[email protected]
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      122 years ago

      I had some “teething” as my wisdom teeth came in. It’s painful, and causes a fever, but babies have no understanding of why they are in pain, and no way to deal with it. As an adult, it’s not fun, but it’s manageable and much less scary.

    • kamen
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      92 years ago

      Have you had your wisdom teeth grow? I figure this would be the same. With mine it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience, but it wasn’t too bad either - and if it’s the same with that new treatment, I’d be willing to take the pain over the alternative of staying toothless when I grow old.

      • @[email protected]
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        32 years ago

        Are you supposed to be able to feel wisdom teeth growing? Cause when I got mine there wasn’t any pain

        • kamen
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          22 years ago

          I guess that ideally you don’t feel anything at all, but I’ve heard from a few people that there was some itchiness and irritation, which mirrors my experience, so…

          • @[email protected]
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            12 years ago

            Fortunately didn’t get any of that. Just accidentally biting my inner cheeks with them as they grew.

    • @[email protected]
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      92 years ago

      That’s because their teeth are busting through their fleshy gums. Presumably this would be growing out an existing hole.

      Dare ya to search “baby teeth skull”.

    • @[email protected]
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      72 years ago

      Less painful than looking at yourself every day in the mirror and staring at your with missing teeth…

    • @[email protected]
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      42 years ago

      Crying isn’t always about pain. Babies can’t talk and don’t have the capacity to realize what’s going on. A lot of their crying can simply be chalked up to the frustration of not being able to communicate, not necessarily from pain.

  • Captain Aggravated
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    152 years ago

    Okay. I had a broken tooth removed and replaced with a titanium implant. What would happen to me if I took this drug?

  • @[email protected]
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    192 years ago

    I could be crazy but I swear I’ve heard this a number of times before. It always seemed wonderful as my teeth tend to self-destruct. But nothing ever seems to come from it.

    It would be nice if we just naturally grew a new set every 10 years or so but people with strong teeth would be quite annoyed at that especially if they had to do alignment.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      My wifes nieces and nephew all had something (DNA? stem cells? Not sure, cant remember) taken by someone in the family who is working on this science to regrow teeth. He doesn’t seem to think its too far off last time i spoke to him.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        I didn’t mean to imply it wasn’t possible. I have a relative that works for ITER. And similarly it’s possible but not in my lifetime i imagine.

        It might seem silly to relate the 2 but it’s just a feeling… major applicable innovation seems lacking.

        Also waiting on sodium-ion or glass batteries as well.

    • @[email protected]
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      52 years ago

      I’ve worked in dental in the past (assistant) and my brother has been sending me these types of articles since I started back in 2004. I always say something like “wild” or “amazing” but really NOTHING ever comes of it so I stopped actually reading what he sends me. It’s just a waste of time.

      I’ll believe it when I see it

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        Thank you for confirming I’m not crazy. At least in that aspect. And also, as someone who has spent an insane amount of hours in that chair thank you for being a DA and dealing with us.

    • Queen HawlSera
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      72 years ago

      Honestly I was hoping crispr would take off more than it actually did come because I’d love to splice myself with the jeans of a shark and just get better teeth every time I lose a tooth

      • @[email protected]
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        92 years ago

        I am scared if it ever takes off - it will only exist for the rich.

        We will soon have a world of CRISPR enhanced humans, and well… me.

      • @[email protected]
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        32 years ago

        That would be amazing… imagine face planting from a stupid stunt and being like no biggie they’ll grow back. Works for kids and we already know from admittedly gross tumors the human body can grow hair and teeth. Just have to get them in the right place.

        Also agree with the other comment to your post… crispr will likely be for the rich. Hell, it probably already is. A cynical view but i don’t sit at that table so who knows.

  • aeternum
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    172 years ago

    This is for congenital lack of teeth. not for people who have had their teeth removed.

    • @[email protected]
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      142 years ago

      That appears to be the current goal, but it still looks like the phase-1 will be on healthy adults which is pretty creepy to imagine!

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        Not really. The research papers mention an interaction between an antibody and a gene that controls tooth growth in both humans and mice. If that gene is supressed, there is no tooth growth.

        However, every tooth you can ever grow, or at least the embryonal tissue for it, is already present at birth. There is no way to get more, and activating this gene would not give you additional tissue to develop into new teeth.

        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          So are they only looking at safety and toxicity in this trial, and not expecting to see additional tooth growth?

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    This is absolutely amazing! I have oligodontia myself and just the thought of being able to actually get those teeth back is pretty cool! I already have 3 implants - still have 8 more to go - but placing them HURTS… would be pretty interesting to see how far they’re in a couple of years.

  • @[email protected]
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    652 years ago

    Teeth have always kind of struck me as something we could eventually not just replace or regrow and make as good as new, but actually replace with something better.

    Teeth are, by their nature, subject to a lot of wear and tear, corrosive environments, have a lot of nooks and crannies that need to be cleaned regularly, etc.

    How fucking cool would it be to have some sort of cyborg teeth made of some material that won’t wear down, is more corrosion resistant, stronger than your natural teeth, etc? You could use your teeth as a bottle opener with impunity, or do everything else your parents always warned you not to do with your teeth.

    I’m certainly no doctor or material scientist to suggest what the ideal tooth replacement material would be, but imagine having some kind of titanium alloy super teeth that would never wear down, corrode, or get cavities no matter what kind of neglect or abuse you subject them to, and are purposely engineered for easier flossing, may e even more efficient biting and chewing. Sure, the Jaws look isn’t everyone’s aesthetic, but some of us might consider it a worthwhile trade-off.

    In the meantime though, this is damn cool if it pans out.

    • @[email protected]
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      82 years ago

      The jaws look would be so cool but imagine if you accidentally bit your cheek while chewing gum or something.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      Man’s out here with the monocrystalline-corundum-coated titanium based tooth implants

    • @[email protected]
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      722 years ago

      The problem there is that the teeth are supported by the jaw bones.

      We’ve had dental implants for the past 2 decades that are pretty indestructible as you describe. The only problem is the jaw bones you drill into aren’t that robust. Especially when you start putting multiple holes in it to hold the teeth. So the jaw bone part of the implant tends to fail after about a decade or two, even when the tooth part of it is still plenty robust.

      Which frankly is the same problem faced by all proposed cybernetic implants/augmentations. The cybernetic part can be as indestructible as you want, but the organics its attached to are comparatively fragile.

      • Gormadt
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        152 years ago

        Yeah and those implants are no joke in strength

        Trigger Warning: true story of workplace injury involving a coworker and his teeth.

        It's light on injury descriptions at least

        One of my coworkers a few months ago had a 200lbs roll of aluminum fall on his head. His implant collided with 3 teeth above it and blew those up.

        He’s mostly recovered at this point from the whole ordeal (concussion, smashed fingers, etc.) he’s just waiting on the bone grafts to heal up for the replacement teeth that are going in.

        And yes he got lucky that the roll mostly glanced off of him towards the front. Had he gotten hit straight on top of the head (or it glanced towards the back) he likely would have broken his neck or died.

        • @[email protected]
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          92 years ago

          Jesus H. Christ.

          I’m glad your colleague got away with fairly minor injuries.

          I bet the OSHA department is having a hell of a time now.

          • Gormadt
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            2 years ago

            Honestly blew my mind that he walking the next time I saw him

            Oh yeah our safety department threw a fit especially when they found out that he was not wearing a hardhat

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      Natural teeth attached to the jaw will always be better than any artificial alternative. Moreso now because they can be regrown.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      I don’t really follow teeth stuff but don’t we already have teeth replacements today?

  • FuglyDuck
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    42 years ago

    So…. Anybody else feel this is……

    I dunno… weird?

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      Only because it’s paradigm shifting and worldview shattering.

      “Only baby teeth grow back, and if you lose your adult teeth you’re fucked, enjoy your dentures.”

      Don’t worry though, you probably have a few decades to realign your worldview. 9/10 of clinical trials fail.

      • FuglyDuck
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        2 years ago

        I mean, yes. It’s amazing.

        Still weird. I guess I’m stuck on the whole… adults teething issues.

        • @[email protected]
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          2 years ago

          Eh, as long as you don’t get all your teeth knocked out at once, or are old and completely toothless when you get treated, it shouldnt be much of a problem. But yeah, weird thought.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 years ago

      Yeah, I’d like to know if they can stop the treatment again. Wouldn’t want to have teeth everywhere.

      • FuglyDuck
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        22 years ago

        So, it sounds like the drug basically prevents certain things that normally halt tooth growth- which would be problematic as we’re not constantly loosing teeth.

      • FuglyDuck
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        32 years ago

        Honestly, I’m not sure I want to. can I join you instead?