Enamel Regeneration: Why Can’t Our Teeth Heal Themselves? Imagine if your teeth could fix themselves. Like a lizard regrowing its tail or your skin healing from a scrape, enamel regeneration sounds like science fiction. But here’s the reality: over 90% of adults experience enamel loss, and the human body simply can’t regenerate it. Why? Because the specialized enamel-producing cells, ” ameloblasts”, disappear once your teeth erupt. Enter a new era of regenerative dentistry, where scientists are harnessing stem cells, bioengineering, and computer-designed proteins to regrow dental enamel. The Quest for Enamel Regeneration Starts With Stem Cells Regenerating enamel starts by recreating ameloblasts, the powerhouse cells responsible for building enamel. Scientists at the University of Washington and Harvard have made big strides by using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to create induced ameloblasts (iAMs). But there was a catch: these iAMs wouldn’t mature into their enamel-spitting final form without a little help, usually from their neighboring cells, odontoblasts, the cells responsible for forming dentin. The mystery was why this cellular teamwork was necessary. Cracking the Code: Notch Signaling and Tooth Cell Chatter In a plot twist worthy of a dental drama, the researchers uncovered the secret handshake between these tooth cells: a communication system called the Notch pathway. Normally, this pathway … Continue reading Enamel Regeneration Research : The Future Of Smiles