Baylor College of Dentistry
Regenerative medicine in dentistry:
Making strides toward a “bio-tooth”
NIH funding begins for TAMBCD researchers to unlock
the mysteries of tooth root formation
By Jennifer Eure Fuentes
When it comes to regenerative medicine within dentistry, studies aimed toward whole tooth regeneration stand to revolutionize the future of dental treatment. There’s just one problem: In
order to regenerate an entire tooth, researchers must first learn
how to regenerate the tooth crown, the visible part of the tooth,
and the tooth root, the portion under the gum line that is buried
in bone and anchors the tooth in position.
“With tooth regeneration, the problem is not in the crown, it’s
in the root,” says Dr. Jerry Feng, professor of biomedical sciences at Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry.
“You can easily make a crown, but you can’t easily make a root.”
That’s because, contrary to prior belief, formation of the tooth
root, composed of dentin, is different than in the crown, which
forms prior to the root and is composed of dentin and enamel.
“The biology is more complex than what we used to believe,”
says Feng.
In July, funding will begin on a $1.8 million grant from the
National Institutes of Health – National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research that will allow Feng and TAMBCD
researchers to further study the mechanisms involved in tooth
root formation, which until now has been infrequently studied
and not well understood.
“This has applications not only in science, in filling that knowledge gap, but also for future regeneration of the whole tooth,”
says Feng. While a “bio-tooth” could provide an alternative to
dental implants and restorations for problems ranging from
dental trauma to periodontal disease, Feng explains that these
potential uses won’t occur anytime soon.
“To regenerate the whole tooth, we have a long way to go —
years, if not decades,” says Feng.
For this project, TAMBCD researchers will utilize transgenic
and conditional knockout mouse models to investigate the role
of osterix, a gene vital in skeletal formation but still a mystery
in terms of its function in tooth biology. Preliminary studies in
mouse models have already shown that while deletion of osterix
has no impact on tooth crown or even the pulp chamber, which
houses the tooth’s nerves, blood vessels and connective tissues,
lack of osterix causes the tooth root to become stunted, thin and
even fracture, signaling the need for its presence in tooth root
formation.
In addition to osterix, the research will include a closer look at
other factors impacting tooth root formation. With help from
Dr. Stephen E. Harris, a professor in periodontics at the School
of Dentistry at University of Texas Health Science Center San
Antonio, they’ll compare the expression pattern of every gene
in the tooth root versus the tooth crown through RNA- and
next-generation DNA sequencing.
“One of the major causes of tooth loss is related to changes in
tooth root biology,” says Harris, who has secondary appointments in the San Antonio dental school’s Department of
Cellular & Structural Biology and Biomedical Engineering
Program. “This research will discover new pathways and genes
and open up new targets for regenerative medicine in the dental
field.”
Founded in 1905, Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas
is a college of the Texas A&M Health Science Center. TAMBCD is a nationally
recognized center for oral health sciences education, research, specialized
patient care and continuing dental education.
Jennifer Eure Fuentes is a communications specialist at Texas A&M Health
Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry. A 2006 graduate of Texas
Christian University, she has worked in the communications and editorial field
for five years.
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