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损坏的牙齿如何自我修复？近日，来自哈佛大学和诺丁汉大学的研究人员研发了能够刺激牙齿干细胞再生的新型生物材料，而这种新材料研发成功的背后，正源于他们对牙齿如何实现自我修复这个课题的不断探索。 据美国期刊《大众科学(Popular Science)》报道，此种新型生物材料，不仅可以有效地取代传统补牙填充物，刺激牙齿干细胞再生，患者也有望无需再接受根管治疗，使蛀牙患者免除牙根感染或牙髓坏死的苦恼，一个全新的牙齿治疗时代即将来临。 Adam Celiz，是来自诺丁汉大学的研究人员，他和同事开发的这种新型合成生物材料，能刺激干细胞在牙髓部的生长。与普通材料一样，这种合成材料被填充到牙齿并用UV光硬化。 在体外测试中，材料刺激干细胞进入牙本质的增殖和分化速度，促进形成牙齿骨组织。研究人员认为，一旦材料在受损牙齿中应用，这些干细胞可以自动修复来自填充物上的损坏。在本质上，该生物材料将使牙齿自愈。 在未来，Adam Celiz说，可再生材料能制成各种填充物以便受损牙齿的自身治愈，降低补牙失败率，甚至会消除大部分人对根管治疗的需要。 这个研究团队今年还荣获英国皇家化学学会(Royal Society of Chemistry)新兴技术奖材料类第二名。
文章编译自美国期刊《大众科学(Popular Science)》THE END OF ROOT CANALS? 其原文如下： What if damaged teeth could heal themselves? That's the inspiration behind a new project from Harvard and the University of Nottingham to create stem cell stimulating fillings. Dentists treat hundreds of millions of cavities each year by drilling out the decay and putting in a filling. But 10 to 15 percent of those fillings fail, says Adam Celiz, a therapeutic biomaterials researcher from University of Nottingham. And that leads to millions of root canals to remove the tooth's pulp, the soft tissue in the center of the tooth that contains the blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissue. A root canal can weaken the tooth, which may eventually need to be pulled. Celiz and his fellow researchers have developed a new kind of filling made from synthetic biomaterial that can stimulate the growth of stem cells in the pulp of the tooth. Just like regular fillings, the biomaterial is injected into the tooth and hardened with UV light. In vitro testing, the fillings stimulated the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells into dentin, the bony tissue that forms the bulk of the tooth under the white enamel. The researchers believes that if used in a damaged tooth, those stem cells can repair the kind of damage that often comes from the installation of a filling. In essence, the biomaterial filling would allow the tooth to heal itself. In the future, Celiz says, all fillings could be made of such regenerative material so that damaged teeth could heal themselves, lowering the failure rate of fillings, and potentially even eliminating the need for most root canals.
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