Towards Scaffold-Based Regeneration of Dental Pulp

Researchers are working towards the ability to regenerate the dental pulp inside teeth. Full regeneration of teeth has seemed perpetually on the verge of success for a decade or so now; it has been achieved as a proof of concept in rats, for example. Restoration of dental pulp is a more viable, less complex project, given the present state of research into the use of scaffolds to provoke regrowth. Researchers have proposed an alternative to root canals in dentistry: restoring the lost tissue in the tooth cavity by inducing the body to regenerate it. Their goal is to develop a materials-based therapy that does not contain live cells and therefore could be sold off-the-shelf. It would be the first of its kind. The team has created an injectable hydrogel designed to recruit a person's own dental pulp stem cells directly to the disinfected cavity after a root canal. Composed of biocompatible peptides that aggregate into fibers, the hydrogel delivers biological cues to direct tissue growth, as well as a scaffold structure to support it. A procedure known as over-instrumentation is performed on children's immature permanent teeth with necrotic pulp, prompting new growth of the still-forming root by eliciting a healing response. The tissue outside of the emptied canal, when poked, forms blood clots that secrete a growth factor that signals cells to produce new tissue to support the root. While some regrows, it is disorganized, lacks the needed tissue differentiation ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs