The world's first human trial of a drug that can regenerate teeth will begin in a few months, less than a year on from news of its success in animals. This paves the way for the medicine to be commercially available as early as 2030.

The world’s first human trial of a drug that can regenerate teeth will begin in a few months, less than a year on from news of its success in animals. This paves the way for the medicine to be commercially available as early as 2030.

The trial, which will take place at Kyoto University Hospital from September to August 2025, will treat 30 males aged 30-64 who are missing at least one molar. The intravenous treatment will be tested for its efficacy on human dentition, after it successfully grew new teeth in ferret and mouse models with no significant side effects.

“We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence,” said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital. “While there has been no treatment to date providing a permanent cure, we feel that people’s expectations for tooth growth are high.”

Following this 11-month first stage, the researchers will then trial the drug on patients aged 2-7 who are missing at least four teeth due to congenital tooth deficiency, which is estimated to affect 1% of people. The team is recruiting for this Phase IIa trial now.

    • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
      1·
      5 months ago

      Something like this seems cheap and longterm enough to be included in an insurance. Maybe not immediately, but soon enough.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
      21·
      5 months ago

      God damn - every single post about something good is just filled with sad sacks that have to find something negative to focus on.

      • arf@lemmy.todayEnglish
        2·
        5 months ago

        Healthcare is a huge sore spot in US culture right now. There’s been too much high-level corruption and greed to have faith in any change.

      • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
        2·
        5 months ago

        Well unfortunately we are all products of our environments, where every single beneficial discovery inevitably becomes a commercial endeavour and priced out of reach of the societies that could benefit most from them. You are entitled to be the cheerleader for the discoverers to your hearts content, just as we are allowed to see and react to the after effects of it

      • callouscomic@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        5 months ago

        Nice of you to just disregard the real suffering that a shitty healthcare and insurance system creates.

      • lobotomo@lemmy.world
        1·
        5 months ago

        Do you disagree with what they actually said though?

        Maybe everyone focuses on the negatives because we just did 5 straight years where it seems like if given the choice between two outcomes positive and negative, we’re living in the timeline where the negative thing always happens.

      • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        You should expect every post to have a variety of opinions. Some positive, some negative. Not everybody is going to react to posts the same way you do.

        • ripcord@lemmy.world
          0·
          5 months ago

          The vast majority of replies in this thread, and to nearly every positive post - are sadsackery.

          Differing opinions is fine. Raw, pointless pessimism as a monoculture is…not what you’re describing.

          • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            5 months ago

            Vast majority, eh? How do you define vast majority? The vast majority of comments in this thread are positive. You’ve decided to focus on the negative comment.

            Raw pointless pessimism? Way to totally ignore the VALID point I brought up in my comment. Insurance (including dental insurance), is bananas in America.

  • Raxiel@lemmy.world
    1·
    5 months ago

    Between this and the tooth decay “vaccine” (that replaces acid producing bacteria in the mouth with an alcohol producing kind) there’s no reason my kids shouldn’t reach old age without a full set of their teeth.
    Aside from that whole, climate-change-driven-collapse-of-social -order thing.

    I better avoid it through. I had four of my otherwise healthy adult teeth removed early on to avoid crowding issues. No idea where they’d fit in my head now if they grew back

  • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    5 months ago

    There’s already several comments about how expensive it would be in the US along with dental care in general, but IIRC a lot of other countries leave dentistry out of their health care plans as well. Any country that can foresee this as becoming freely available want to speak up?

    • brb@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      5 months ago

      In Finland dental care

      • is free for students (~70€/year for upper education)

      • is free if you are unable to work and have no income

      • has payment ceiling of 762€/year for everyone else (other healthcare is included in this also)

      Medicine also has payment ceiling of 627€/year after which you pay 2.50€ for any medicine

      So not completely free but pretty manageable I would say

  • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
    01·
    5 months ago

    as exciting as this is here in the US at least insurance prices are not affordable and neither is basic health care

    this sounds like something Biden, Trump, and their donors will benefit from though