Happy Teeth: Drilling May Soon Be a Thing of the Past

A team of researchers affiliated with the Forsyth Institute located in Massachusetts, the United States, is developing a tissue-regenerating tech that could replace the drill when performing root canals and have a wide-ranging therapeutic impact.

“Our goal is to come up with a method for regenerating the pulp, instead of filling the root canal with inert material,” says Thomas Van Dyke, who led the study. “Because application of Resolvin E1 (RvE1) to dental pulp promotes formation of the type of stem cells that can differentiate into dentin (tooth), bone, cartilage or fat, this technology has huge potential for the field of regenerative medicine beyond the tissues in the teeth. It could be used to grow bones in other parts of the body, for instance.”

Applying RvE1 on infected pulp – the soft tissue in the centre of the tooth, which contains nerves, blood vessels, and specialized cells – regenerates itself using a class of molecules called resolvins. Naturally produced by the body to control excess inflammation, RvE1 was highly effective on infected but living mouse dental pulp. However, regeneration wasn’t achieved when applied on severely infected and necrotic pulp, although it slowed the infection rate and reduced inflammation. Further tests must be conducted to validate the technology’s potency, efficiency, and safety on humans.