Organoid teeth
Bodyword #5: Stem cells pave a path to regenerated teeth and numbers determine NFL's body image.
The hardest material in the body are the teeth. This is because of enamel — an outer substance that deflects lime acid, Jelly Bean bombs of sugar, the luscious splash of Taco Bell. They are built to last — only problem is they often don’t. A quarter of all Americans suffer from tooth decay and oral diseases. And if you take a moon’s eye view, 2.5 billion people globally suffer from teeth degeneration, cavities, infections, decay.1 But researchers may have found a path to regenerating teeth with stem cells and those hot-wheel mini organs — organoids.
Despite the hard-earned evolution that has created an enamel shield around our teeth, it has never been harder to maintain chompers in the modern era. Blame the sugar. Blame the processed food. Blame poverty and poor hygiene.
Millions of Americans suffer from oral diseases and infections. 90% of the population has had a cavity. There are more than 10,000 deaths from oral cancer every year. Nearly half of all adults above 30 suffer from gum disease.2
Once all the tooth fairy money has been collected from baby teeth (about half of all US children suffer a cavity), adult teeth must last for a lifetime. And teeth aren't just for scarfing down food. They are signals of health, and rigid markers of "normality" — a sloppy word that many shackle around their teeth like some moist mouth guard. For instance, more adults than ever feel the need to get braces — to fix crooked teeth — a process that can cost 3,000 to 10,000 dollars.3 Some teeth may well need some movement or realignment, but culturally speaking. crooked teeth are a signal away from beauty, away from health. It shouldn’t be.
Teeth are a signal of ultimate personal responsibility. It feels vulnerable to get judged for not brushing your teeth or flossing. It feels embarrassing. If they are crooked, rotten, zombified, missing, infected — it’s on you. Then why are so many people filled with decaying teeth that crawl with bacteria — grinding down the enamel? Class, divide, shame is the short answer.
I myself spent my younger years avoiding the dentists’s chair because I couldn’t afford it. Going to the dentist and seeking strong, bullet proof, Super Bowl ad-worthy teeth are more about how the dentist office evolved and became its own entity. The dentist chair is hard to reach. Mary Otto’s excellent book on this mater lays out the divide.
One review puts it this way: “ …the dental profession evolved, separately from the rest of health care, into a mostly private industry that revolves almost entirely around one’s ability to pay.” Over 70 million Americans can’t afford a trip to the dentist. It’s the biggest financial barrier than any other type of health care4 Smile, it’s inequality at work.
But it’s healthy teeth without cavities I am after. Non-infected teeth. Damn the beauty standard of teeth flexed together, and all the divides the untenable smile can create. Because teeth without decay and pain means more confidence. About 18% of American adults say that appearances of their mouth and teeth affect their ability to interview for jobs. And for poorer folks, that drops down to almost 30%.
For economic and business fans out there, nearly 45 billion dollars is lost in productivity. And over 34 million school hours are lost each year because of unplanned dental care.5 On top of that, tooth loss generates anxiety and less connectedness — it’s an isolating affair. Think what a society could do with better teeth? Think what we could build if we got some people some care? And opened the door to the dentist and gave everyone the privilege of sitting in the world’s most boring waiting rooms with fake plants, out-dated golf and motor head magazines.
A multi-disciplinary set of researchers may have recently found an answer, maybe.6 The researchers needed ameloblasts cells — a specialized cell responsible for creating enamel. So they mapped out the sequence with a computer, found a road map and called on the super-special, Swiss army knife cells, Stem Cells. Here’s a bit from a University of Washington news release:
“With this trajectory mapped out, the researchers, after much trial and error, were able to coax undifferentiated human stem cells into becoming ameloblasts. They did this by exposing the stem cells to chemical signals that were known to activate different genes in a sequence that mimicked the path revealed by the sci-RNA-seq data. In some cases, they used known chemical signals. In other cases, collaborators from the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design created computer-designed proteins that had enhanced effects.”
In the course of conducting this project, the scientists also identified for the first time another cell type, called a subodontoblast, which they believe is a progenitor of odontoblasts, a cell type crucial for tooth formation.
The researchers found that together these cell types could be induced to form small, three-dimensional, multicellular mini-organs, called organoids. These organized themselves into structures similar to those seen in developing human teeth and secreted three essential enamel proteins: ameloblastin, amelogenin and enamelin. These proteins would then form a matrix. A mineralization process that is essential for forming enamel with the requisite hardness would follow.
They found some new cells and banded together some organoids to create enamel — the protective shield for the teeth. In theory, creating more enamel could regenerate, or replace missing teeth all together. For once teeth are decayed, they are gone forever. Fillings are the usual route for replacing cavity-stricken teeth, but those are fake. Organoid, stem cell powered teeth would be real. True replacements.
This is still more a concept than a treatment. It’s years away. But teeth are way easier to create than complex full-sized organs — another big hope of stem cells. Hearing this news causes hope. As long as it flattens the barrier to entry, and generates the access for a healthy mouth
A couple last things.
Today was a national holiday with the start of the NFL. If you observe, when you see a high number on your favorite team — do you think slender or thick? A new study shows that players want lower numbers to be perceived to be more slender:
“The results of two experiments showed that observers perceived athletes wearing small jersey numbers as more slender than those with high numbers. This finding suggests that the cognition of numbers quantitatively alters body size perception.”
“cognition of numbers can have an effect on how associated visual stimuli are perceived.” So, if you want to look skinny, wear a low number. I wonder if this study will create a fast fashion infusion of low numbers stamped all over blouses and T-shirts. Or we could take this as a lesson in perception: what you see, hear or believe — should always be questioned. Challenging certainty is progress. Either way, Go Pack — keeping putting up big numbers on the scoreboard. And, we are getting closer to chatting with whales — using AI. The argument goes, if we knew what the whales felt, we would do more than save them — we might try to save their (and our) planet. This story is bonkers — baby whale births and researchers mad to understand nature’s biggest brained creature.
ENDIT.
I wore number 72. What a porker!