Drug found to make teeth repair themselves
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- Published: Thursday, 12 January 2017 07:54
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Scientists say that they have found a way to stimulate the stem cells in teeth using a drug containing a GSK-3 inhibitor so that dentine, which is found underneath tooth enamel, regrows. This research has been highlighted in the media as the ‘end of fillings’ and lead author Prof Paul Sharpe is confident that it could get ‘quickly into clincs’.
Researchers at King’s College London found that the drug Tideglusib stimulates the stem cells contained in teeth so that they generate new dentine, the material under the enamel. Teeth can already regrow dentine if the pulp inside the tooth becomes exposed by trauma or infection, but it can only naturally make a very thin layer and not fill deep cavities of tooth decay. Tideglusib switches off the enzyme called GSK-3 which prevents dentine from carrying on forming.
Scientists showed it is possible to soak a small biodegradable sponge with the drug and insert it into a cavity, where it repairs the damage within six weeks. The sponges melt away over time, leaving only the repaired tooth. “The simplicity of our approach makes it ideal as a clinical dental product for the natural treatment of large cavities, by providing both pulp protection and restoring dentine,” said Prof Paul Sharpe, the study’s lead author, of the Dental Institute, at King’s College London. “Using a drug that has already been tested in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease provides a real opportunity to get this dental treatment quickly into clinics.”
The article, Promotion of natural tooth repair by small molecule GSK3 antagonists, by Paul T Sharpe et al appears in · Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 39654 (2017) · doi:10.1038/srep39654
It can be accessed at: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep39654
ABSTRACT
The restoration of dentine lost in deep caries lesions in teeth is a routine and common treatment that involves the use of inorganic cements based on calcium or silicon-based mineral aggregates. Such cements remain in the tooth and fail to degrade and thus normal mineral volume is never completely restored. Here we describe a novel, biological approach to dentine restoration that stimulates the natural formation of reparative dentine via the mobilisation of resident stem cells in the tooth pulp. Biodegradable, clinically-approved collagen sponges are used to deliver low doses of small molecule glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3) antagonists that promote the natural processes of reparative dentine formation to completely restore dentine. Since the carrier sponge is degraded over time, dentine replaces the degraded sponge
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