Lasers Are Being Used To Help A Tooth Repair Itself

Dentist haters unite! Scientists at the  National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Maryland believe they have found a way using lasers to encourage your teeth to repair themselves. Imagine, this could mean patients will no longer need painful and costly treatment.

According to the researchers just a five minute blast from a laser was enough to kick-start the healing process inside the mouth of their rat patients.  Experts from the U.S. government’s dental research arm – hope to test the technique on people soon.

So how did it work? They started by making a small hole in the dentine of the tooth and then shot it with a low level laser for five minutes.  The blast of intense light activated a chemical in the mouth which ‘woke up’ stem cells – master cells which act as a repair system for the body – deep within the tooth. These stem cells were then able to form new dentine. The confirmation came when rechecked in twelve weeks new dentin had formed in the research subjects. This was reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine

Researcher Praveen Arany, of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Maryland, said that if other parts of the tooth can also be regenerated, the technique might replace painful and expensive root canal treatment. However, researchers added, that regrowing the enamel, the hard surface of the tooth that allows us to bite and chew food, will be much more difficult.