Frankenteeth on the horizon
Joel Garreau (Radical Evolution) covers the future genetics beat for the Washington Post. In today's edition, he has an interesting article about tooth regeneration from stem cells:
As long as there are hockey players, there will be niche markets for false teeth. But the real news about the future of dentures is that there isn't much of one. Toothlessness has declined 60 percent in the United States since 1960. Baby boomers will be the first generation in human history typically to go to their graves with most of their teeth.
And now comes tooth regeneration: growing teeth in adults, on demand, to replace missing ones. Soon.
Naturally, as a paleoanthropologist, this topic is near to my heart. The teeth are one of the better-understood developmental systems, at least in mice. Being a couple hundred million years old, the genetic program that builds the teeth is admirably modularized.
The story traipses through the cultural meaning of tooth loss and its relation to senescence and health risks like smoking and diet. Best line:
If you are one of those obedient doobies who listened to your dentist and had your wisdom teeth removed for no particularly urgent reason, you are hosed.
Well, my twin daughters are losing their teeth now, but I feel no urge to save their baby teeth in liquid nitrogen like some of the subjects of the article. That's just crazy talk.
