Professors at Columbia University in New York may have found the answer to re-growing missing teeth thanks to a revolutionary technology that uses the body’s own stem cells. This new process could potentially replace the need for artificial false teeth or dental implants. It involves extracting stem cells from the patient and planting them in the gums. A ‘scaffold’ or framework of natural body material is placed in the area where the old tooth was. The stem cells are then inserted within this scaffold where they merge with the surrounding tissue and begin to form a completely natural tooth.

Recovery time is much faster than with implantation and, because the re-growth process uses the body’s own material, there are no side effects. Dr Jeremy Mao, Professor of Dental Medicine at Columbia, says that the new teeth could be fully grown in as quickly as nine weeks.