Dr. David Mooney’s Team at Harvard University's Wyss Institute Re-grow Dentine in Rat’s Teeth – Human Trials next to re-grow Teeth using Laser Light

“Our treatment modality does not introduce anything new to the body, and lasers are routinely used in medicine and dentistry, so the barriers to clinical translation are low. It would be a substantial advance in the field if we can regenerate Teeth rather than replace them.”

Dr. David Mooney of Harvard University's Wyss Institute commenting on their development of Laser/Stem Cell Therapy to Re-grow Dentine in Rats and possibly Humans

It is now officially possible to re-grow Dentine in Teeth using Stem Cells Stimulated by Lasers. This is now officially something we can say is possible thanks to Research recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine by a Research team led by Dr. David Mooney of Harvard University's Wyss Institute as reported in “Scientists Use Lasers To Regrow Teeth From Stem Cells”, published May 29, 2014 by Lisa Winter, Digitaltrends.

This is a big deal for Dentistry folks on a level similar to the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service developing artificial Type O Negative Blood from Stem Cells as announced in April 2014 in my blog article entitled “Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service develops artificial Type O Negative Blood - Stem Cell Cloning of Type O Negative Blood for Cheaper Transfusions in 2016”.

What this means is that a specific method has been discovered to coax Stem Cells in Teeth to differentiate into Dentine Cells, enabling Dentists to re-grow Teeth damaged by Tooth Decay. In other words, if this method passes clinical trials in humans, there will no longer be a need to fill or remove Teeth damaged by Tooth Decay; you can use the Laser Therapy developed by Dr. David Mooney’s Team and coax Stem Cells to re-grow themselves.

Previous methods of doing this involve removing Stem Cells from Teeth, growing Teeth in the lab from these Stem Cells and then transplanting them back into the tooth that was suffering Tooth Decay in hopes that it would take root and grow back into normal tooth. This was a complex procedure and takes awhile. It also doesn’t work 100% of the time, making it risky to the patient and an unreliable way of regenerating Teeth.

Interestingly, Anecdotal evidence about light influencing Stem Cells to activate and grow has always existed, but this was the first study to nail down the exact mechanism by which light influences Stem Cells. Dr. David Mooney’s Team at Harvard University's Wyss Institute will hopefully begin human trial soon as this Laser/Stem Cell Therapy holds promise not only for Dentistry but also for jumpstarting Stem Cell replication in other parts of the body.

If this hold true for other types of Stem Cells such as in Bone Marrow or even Blood Cells, it could open up a whole new field of Laser Therapy where Laser Light can be used to jump start Stem Cells to produce and grow into the surrounding Cells once a endoscope is used to introduce Laser light of the right intensity and frequency inside of a body cavity.

Re-growing Rat’s Teeth – Human Trials could be next to re-grow Teeth using Laser Light

So how did they do it?

Dr. David Mooney’s Team at Harvard University's Wyss Institute set up a Dentist office and used Rat's to do their studies as described in the article “Scientists Use Lasers To Re-grow Teeth From Stem Cells”, published May 29, 2014 by Lisa Winter, I Fucking Love Science.

The researchers then drilled holes in the Rat's little Teeth to simulate Tooth Decay, most likely causing the Rats severe pain. Adult Stem Cells were then injected into the Rat's Teeth and a low-power non-ionizing Laser was used to stimulate the Stem Cells as per anecdotal accounts. 

The holes were then sealed up with traditional Fillings used in dentistry to keep liquid out and the Rats were observed over a 12 week period. After this period of time, X-Rays were then conducted that, surprisingly, confirmed that the Dentine had indeed begun to grow back.

The Researchers theorized that TGF-β1 (Transforming growth factor beta-1), a protein that regulates Cell proliferation and differentiation caused the Dentine to grow back. Differentiation is the process Stem Cells go through in order to become a distinct type of Cell.

Apparently the Laser stimulated ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) which then started a chain reaction that eventually awoke the TGF-β1. Once TGF-β1 was in the active state, it gave the Stem Cells the signal to start differentiating into Dentine Cells, depending on the level of Laser Light received.

The Team faced great difficulty in coming to their conclusions. First was that the Rat's Teeth are very small, making their operations of drilling and filling the holes with Stem Cells and then capping them difficult. Then there was the fact that the Re-grown Dentine was slightly different from human Dentine, making it difficult to identify the “Dentine Bridge” that covered the exposed pulp that would have shown up in X-Rays of Regular Teeth.

Hopefully Human Trials will be a lot easier. Interesting to see, too, if this Laser Therapy method can be applied to all types of Stem Cells to make them differentiate on a more consistent basis into Cells required in other parts of the Human body.