The world’s first drug that can regrow teeth has been approved for human trials this year

Katsu Takahashi, the head of dentistry at the medical research institute at Kitano Hospital who are running the project, said: “We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence.

The revolutionary drug has had a major breakthrough. (Kyoto University/Katsu Takahashi)

“While there has been no treatment to date providing a permanent cure, we feel that people’s expectations for tooth growth are high.”

To get to where we are today the team of researchers has based a study around a particular antibody named Uterine sensitization.

They are associated with gene-1 (USAG-1), which has been shown to inhibit the growth of teeth in ferrets and mice.

Obviously, we don’t know for sure the same effect will happen with humans, but that’s exactly what the human trials are for.

Takahashi, who is also one of the lead authors on the study, said: “The morphogenesis of individual teeth depends on the interactions of several molecules including BMP, or bone morphogenetic protein, and Wnt signalling.

“We knew that suppressing USAG-1 benefits tooth growth. What we did not know was whether it would be enough.”

The expert added: “Ferrets are diphyodont animals with similar dental patterns to humans. Our next plan is to test the antibodies on other animals such as pigs and dogs.”

Meanwhile, Manabu Sugai of the University of Fukui and another author of the 2021 study remarked: “Conventional tissue engineering is not suitable for tooth regeneration. Our study shows that cell-free molecular therapy is effective for a wide range of congenital tooth agenesis.”

Now, it’s only a matter of months before the human trials begin.

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