Science Friday Podcast Recap: Laser Blast Can Regrow Teeth, in Rats

Stem cells, though they may often be perceived as something that only exists in a laboratory setting, as it turns out, lurk all throughout a person’s body, anywhere from a person’s brain to their heart to their bones. What, then, triggers these cells? Researchers recently discovered a way to manually turn these cells in order to regenerate the tissues in which they live These Harvard-based researchers accomplished this through the use of a laser light on rat teeth. Though the use of lasers is not quite new in the medical field as they have frequently been used to destroy tissue, the key information behind why these methods work has been unclear to scientists. These researchers, however, tried to discover not only the result but also the method itself and the reason why the method works in a recent experiment. They specifically put a filling in the damaged teeth of rats, directed a laser at the damaged teeth, and measured resulting dentin levels of the teeth. They found that dentin regenerated significantly more in the laser-treated teeth than in the untreated teeth, and they activated stem cells to become dentin and regenerate the tooth structure.