KNOCK OUT A TOOTH? GROW A NEW ONE

KNOCK OUT A TOOTH? GROW A NEW ONE

SAFFORD, Ariz. (Wireless Flash) -- Good news for hockey players: in the near future, when a tooth is knocked out, you'll be able to grow a new one. That's according to Academy of General Dentistry spokesman Dr. Eric Curtis, who's predicting dentists will be able to actually grow teeth for patients sometime in the next 10 to 20 years. Researchers have already grown new choppers in laboratory mice using a recently-discovered gene that controls the growth of a tooth. Dr. Curtis says the new technology should develop to the point where dentists can apply a tooth-growing gel in the space where a tooth was lost and three weeks later the patient will have a new bicuspid, molar or incisor. Although scientists have figured out how to grow a new set of pearly whites, Curtis says there are still kinks that need to be worked out, such as getting the tooth to grow back in exactly the right position.