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A person can grow teeth throughout their lifetime
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
A group of biologists, while studying the restoration of teeth in fish living in one of the freshwater African lakes, found out that the mechanism is easy to control and it is quite possible to start the growth of molars in humans.
Teeth and taste buds develop from the same epithelium, so scientists were interested in both elements. Fish do not have a tongue, and their taste buds are located between their teeth.
Lake Nyasa is home to various species of cichlids that have adapted to difficult conditions - one species has virtually no teeth because they feed only on plankton, while others, which feed on algae, need both teeth and taste buds to distinguish harmful food by taste.
In their study, the scientists bred a hybrid from two species of fish, and already in the second generation, differences in genes appeared, and similar genes were identified that were related to the development of teeth and taste buds in rodents.
Fish embryos were placed in a special composition, and the researchers found mechanisms for controlling the process of tissue development, as a result, the teeth and receptors of the embryos developed faster. Such changes began at the very beginning of the formation of the jaw, approximately a week after the fetus's life.
Despite the fact that there are fundamental anatomical differences between teeth and taste buds, they are formed from the same epithelium. With certain chemical signals, the process of restoration (growth) of teeth can begin in humans, experts suggest.
According to the researchers themselves, they did not expect that these processes would be controllable, but this may mean that the epithelium in the human oral cavity can be controlled in the same way and the process of molar growth can be started. The scientists intend to conduct a series of studies and find out how to force the human epithelium to start producing not only teeth, but also taste buds.
But experts noted that it is important not to start the process of growth of new teeth, it is important to understand how the development of blood vessels and nerve endings occurs, without which the full functioning of both the tooth and receptors is impossible.
Similar conclusions were made by researchers from the National Academy of Sciences, who conducted experiments with rodent embryos.
Scientists injected embryos with a special tigger, as a result of which new teeth grew in the adult after the molars fell out, although they were different in shape. Rodents have complex teeth with several outgrowths, and the new teeth were cone-shaped.
Then scientists put forward the hypothesis that the human genome contains information about the constant restoration of teeth, but for unknown reasons this process is switched off after the loss of baby teeth in childhood.
Experiments with teeth on rodents were also conducted in Japan, but using a different method: scientists inserted treated pieces of tissue into the gums, as a result of which the rodent grew a full-fledged incisor.
At the Karolinska Institute, scientists have proposed another option for restoring teeth after they discovered that there are stem cells in the nerves of the tooth. This discovery explains the process of tooth growth and restoration.