Smile A Rat

If you are over 40, living in the UAE and have false teeth or getting there because of periodontal disease, you still have a reason to smile.

Japanese scientists from the University of Tokyo have used bioengineering techniques to grow new teeth in a lab dish and have transplanted them successfully in mice since February 2007.

They have used organ germ culture to ensure that mice teeth will never decay.

But of course you will say: "What? Teeth for mice? What about humans?"

Stop flapping your gums!

On the other side of the world in England, Paul Sharpe of the Dental Institute of King’s College in London has said that stem cells from a patient who wants to regenerate a new set of pearly whites can be slowly nudged to grow to form a bud in a lab dish. This can then be transplanted into the gum and this will then mature into a fully formed tooth in a few months.

Voila! You want a molar or did you say incisor or do you just want your two front teeth for Eid….. Now you can have them all.

You however have to make sure that you have taken good care of your jaw bones as these teeth fuse to the jawbone and chemicals released in the growth period then encourage blood vessels and nerves to link up with these.

Isn’t it lovely that no one, especially your significant other that you want to impress, will ever have to deal with the grotesque sight of your false teeth sitting in a glass of water at the bedside table?

For centuries we’ve had false teeth made from gold, steel, platinum, alloys and acrylic and it is a fact that users of these still couldn’t chew properly because one can only put 15 per cent pressure on false teeth when chewing.

Now you can chew on this: the population of the UAE stands high up in the DMFT count (decayed, missing, filled teeth) (see page 13).

Would you rather take care of your natural teeth and smile, or go trap a mouse?

Your choice. 

Nirmala Janssen
editor@alnisrmedia.com
www.xpress4me.com/letters