Slashdot Mirror
Growing Teeth with Stem Cell Technology
davidoff404 writes "Lost a tooth lately? Well, a natural cure may be at hand. The BBC is reporting on a grant awarded to researchers at King's College, London, which they say will allow them to develop a technique for growing natural replacement teeth. Using recently developed techniques, stem cells can be programmed to develop into teeth, and then inserted into the gap in a patient's jaw. According to the BBC, the research has already been successfully performed on mice, and clinical trials on humans should begin within two years."
This King's College sure sounds like a front for some true organ cloning, I bet they are running this tooth thing at a loss. Wake up Drucker here we come! Of course how will we tell the hicks apart?
Research on growing teeth? In England? THERE's a fucking surprise, mate.
Finally, a solution to the near-catastrophic lack of Rodent Teeth! I can sleep easy tonight!
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."
- Seneca
alabama and west virginia?
I understand why they're necessary, but come on, why do they have nerves in them? Fingernails and hair are necessary, and evolution seems to have gotten both of those correct... so why do teeth have nerves? And does this growing of new teeth include the nerves? I have had five root canals and stopped counting my cavities at 40 (I'm half English, that's why - the stereo-type is based in reality), so I am looking to get FAKE teeth (the kind that screw into the jaw - I already have one) and be rid of the miserable real ones I have. I sure as hell don't want them replaced with new real ones. That would just be excruciating.
Find out about the Lexus Rx400h Hybrid!
Note: This does not mean you can stop brushing your teeth, people! Flossing, okay, maybe, but continue to brush. Please...
No more brushing my teeth and all the Coke I can drink!
Take that, Mother, with all your dire predictions about my teeth rotting out.
This is wonderful news, now I can grow teeth like Tom Cruise's.
Oh wait, this research was done in the UK.
Make that Austin Powers.
John.
Shinsherely,
Cohen the Barbarian
Reshipient of Oldesht Living Barbarian Award
It would be cool if in the future you could have some plasmid novelty joke gum that would alter the stem cell DNA and turn the tooth into a penis or ass. You've been Punk'd, ass mouth!
Now it won't only be the cute kids singing:
"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.."
Telcos have alot of dark fibre in the States. Most people assume that's optical fibre...but it's actually moral fibre.
I imagine that using this technique that they could grow a tooth anywhere, right? I got a joke in e-mail last week about vagina's with teeth - I could only get to sleep that night by dismissing it as an impossibility. Now what? I'm suffering some serious shrinkage here - tell me it isn't so... Snapping - be careful what you wish for.
Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind
What do they need a grant for, can't they just stick all the teeth they grow under their pillows?
Crest Toothening Strips. More teeth in 2 weeks, guaranteed!
Yeah. Imagine in 20 years it will be the Brits making fun of American's teeth!
People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this.
After watching the icehockey world championship this week I am sure there's a demand for them.
According to the BBC, the research has already been successfully performed on mice, and clinical trials on humans should begin within two years.
With all these advancements we keep performing on mice (mice with human breasts and gigantic ears. Mice that can control things with their mind and are cancer proof...Mice that produce sperm for monkeys,mice that glow in the dark, etc...), it's only a matter of time before we build a renegade breed of super-supergenius mice who become our leaders and take over the world.
It's just like marijuana legalization. The people missing the most teeth tend not to vote.
The CB App. What's your 20?
How do the stem cells know when to *stop* growing the tooth? I mean, clearly there's something telling them when they're done but what happens if something goes wrong? What happens if you drop these things in someone's gum, and it starts growing a tooth, but the shutoff mechanism for the stem cells never activates.. so it just keeps growing.. and growing.. and growing...
LONDON, ENGLAND... A HUGE, WHITE MASS LOOMS OVER THE BUILDINGS ON THE HORIZON
WOMAN, FRIGHTENED AND DRAWING BACK: My God... what is it??
MAN, STANDING BACK DRAMATICALLY: It is... The Tooth.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
of all the things to grow are teeth. Why not something like hair. That's where the money is. Look at all the infomercials.
Or penises.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I now have the opportunity to wear braces again. Another step forward for science AND fashion!
can they grow hair with stem cells? If they can do that, now THAT would be a goldmine.. fake teeth dont look as fake as fake hair.
...welcome our new bucked-toothed rodent overlords!
1. Grow new teeth using stem cell technology.
2. Set up office in Arkansas.
3. PROFIT!
I may just stop using email completely... :-\
--- Ban humanity.
And, in related news, it seems that the National Hockey League Players Union has invested a quarter of a billion dollars into furthering the research into this wonderful new technology.
(joke, but it should be real..)
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
Nope, Vagina dentata are real, although exremely rare...
Vagina dentata
What a wonderful phrase
Vagina dentata
Ain't no passing craze
It means no weiner
for the rest of your days
It's a penis-free
girl cavity
Vagina dentata
(Originally found here.
Maybe what you meant to say was "I hope I don't see this stuff coming into anyone's mouth for many years to come."
As a dentist, you're required to be opposed to the advancement of technology. What other branch of medicine has remained in the dark ages so successfully? Your primary tools are a pointy stick and various drills.
For fun, let's compare your work with mine. I'm a computer engineer. I work for a company that builds computer chips. If I were to sell you a computer that performed as well as the service that you, as a dentist, provide your customers, I think you would probably want a refund. Here's the computer that I would build for you:
- You would have to clean the computer twice a day, at least. This would require a few minutes per cleaning, and you would have to buy computer cleaning supplies regularly.
- Every six months, at least, you would have to bring the computer back to my office, where I would check it for normal operation and perform a more thorough cleaning than your twice-daily cleaning.
- Every year or so, a chip would develop a flaw, which would need to be fixed.
- The entire motherboard might become physically un-aligned, in which case I would use a complicated, unattractive mesh of metal and rubber bands to re-align it. Rubber bands, for crying out loud!
- Eventually, entire chips would decay and fall off the motherboard. I would replace these, at tremendous personal cost to you, with fake chips.
This would leave you with two choices. One: you could fork over thousands and thousands of dollars and keep your computer running, or, two: you could just choose not to have a computer.You would choose option two. Unfortunately, as your customer, I don't have option two. I have no choice but to pay and pay and pay for you to maintain my teeth, while you make ABSOLUTELY NO attempt to advance your science out of the dark ages of pointy sicks and drills and rubber bands. Why would you? Doing so would cut into your income, and possibly even make most of your services obsolete. Sure, it might make your patients' lives dramatically better, but that's not what's important.
And, of course, when something new does come along, you berate and belittle it, in the hopes that no one takes it seriously. Nice work.