Scientists announce first attempts to recreate urine teeth

During this week, Chinese researchers reported in Cell Regeneration a surprising novelty: Using cells generated from urine, they were able to recreate structures that resemble human teeth.

Strange as this may sound, scientists believe they can develop the technique to create a suitable tooth to be transplanted into a patient's jaw.

In the text published in the journal, the researchers explain that it was necessary to transplant stem cells in mice to develop teeth with characteristics very similar to human teeth. Medical News Today points to elasticity, the presence of dental pulp, the existence of dentin and cells that indicate enamel formation as some of the characteristics found by the researchers.

The Stem Cell Issue

Although stem cells represent a major breakthrough in medicine, in the case of teeth, the rate of successful transplants is only 30% and the newly formed structures have only 1/3 the strength of human teeth.

Researchers believe that using human cells instead of rat cells can solve these problems. This is the next step "toward the ultimate dream of total regeneration of a human tooth for clinical therapy, " they wrote. Another advantage is that the use of the patient's own cells eliminates the risk of rejection of the body.

But not all researchers agree with the removal of urine stem cells. “This is probably one of the worst sources. Firstly, it has few cells and the efficiency of transforming them into stem cells is quite low. You shouldn't do it that way, ”explains Chris Mason, a researcher at University College, London, to the BBC.

According to the scientist, the risk of bacterial contamination is greater than in other sources and the biggest challenge when it comes to teeth is ensuring that they have a properly unnerved and irrigated pulp to make sure it will integrate and can become a permanent tooth.