Chapter 651: Tooth Regeneration?

Chapter 651: Chapter 651: Tooth Regeneration?

Lin Xiaoyu returned to the office and typed away at her computer, organizing the audio recording into a detailed and insightful manuscript.

She included all of Li Xu’s thoughts on the Materia Medica, forensic evaluations, and the current state of Chinese and Western medicine, hoping to spark some deeper discussion.

However, when she submitted the first draft to her editor-in-chief, it was, as expected, rejected.

"Xiao Lin, this article... it’s well-written, very in-depth."

The editor-in-chief pushed up his glasses, his brow furrowed slightly. "But this latter part, about traditional Chinese medicine being suppressed and the Materia Medica being unreasonable, is too sensitive. We’re just a city-level publication with limited influence. We can’t touch major, controversial topics like this."

"If this stirs up a public outcry or we get reprimanded by the higher-ups, our magazine won’t be able to handle the fallout."

The editor-in-chief took a red pen and struck through a few lines on the manuscript. "How about this: delete all of this. Focus the report on Dr. Li’s miraculous healing skills, how he used traditional Chinese medicine to save a critically ill patient. Promote some positivity. That’s what we should be doing."

Lin Xiaoyu was reluctant to accept this, but she knew the editor-in-chief was telling the truth.

Within the system, stability was the top priority.

She sent Li Xu a message on WeChat, explaining the situation and expressing her apologies.

Li Xu quickly replied with a smiley face emoji: "It’s fine, I figured as much. Just being able to report on the life-saving aspect is already great. Thank you."

...

「Two days later.」

The swelling and pain in Lin Xiaoyu’s gums finally subsided.

She took the day off and went to a private dental clinic.

Lying back in the dental chair, the blinding shadowless lamp shone down from above.

"Open your mouth. Relax."

The dentist, holding his instruments, first administered a shot of anesthetic.

The moment the needle pierced her gum, Lin Xiaoyu couldn’t help but frown.

After the anesthetic took effect, the dentist took a pair of forceps and clamped down on the rotten tooth, which was hollowed out by decay, leaving only a remnant of the root.

"You might feel a bit of a pulling sensation. Just bear with it."

The dentist forcefully wiggled the forceps. The sensation of flesh tearing from bone echoed in her mouth. Although it didn’t hurt, the horrifying feeling still gave Lin Xiaoyu goosebumps.

With a SNAP, the tooth root was pulled out whole, streaked with blood.

The nurse quickly had Lin Xiaoyu bite down on a cotton ball to stop the bleeding.

After the extraction, the next, more important question was—how to replace it?

The dentist took out several models and began explaining the options:

"There are currently three main restoration methods."

"The first is a removable partial denture. This is the cheapest option, only a few hundred yuan. But it’s not very comfortable, feels like a foreign object in your mouth, and you have to take it out to clean it every day. It also loosens easily, making it awkward to eat with."

"The second is a fixed bridge, what people often call porcelain teeth. This requires grinding down the two healthy teeth on either side of the gap to act as abutments, then fitting a three-unit crown over them. This method is quite stable and looks good, and the price is moderate. The downside, however, is that you have to damage two healthy teeth, and those two teeth are more likely to decay in the future."

"The third option, and the best one available today, is a dental implant."

The dentist pointed to a model. "We drill a hole directly into your alveolar bone, insert a pure titanium implant to act as an artificial root, and once it fuses with the bone, we attach a crown to it. This method doesn’t damage the adjacent teeth, provides strong chewing force, is almost indistinguishable from a real tooth, and can last for decades without issue."

"But..." The dentist paused. "It’s also the most expensive. An imported implant, including the surgery and crown, costs over ten thousand yuan."

The procedure was also rather gruesome: cut open the gum, peel back the flesh, use an electric drill to make a hole in the bone, screw in the post, and then stitch it all up... ’Just hearing it described is enough to make my legs go weak.’

Lin Xiaoyu agonized over it for a moment before gritting her teeth and choosing the dental implant.

’I’m still young, after all. If I grind down two perfectly good teeth or wear a denture, how am I supposed to live for the next few decades?’

"Alright, I’ll go with the implant."

Lin Xiaoyu said.

"Okay." The dentist wrote out a slip. "But we can’t do the implant right now. You just had an extraction, so your jawbone needs time to heal. Go home and let it rest for three months, then come back once the bone has flattened out."

Lin Xiaoyu sighed. "These teeth are so high-maintenance. It costs a fortune, it’s painful, and I have to wait so long."

The dentist spoke casually as he cleaned up his instruments. "Yeah, tooth decay is irreversible. But I heard a team in Japan recently—from Kyoto University, I think—developed a drug that can make teeth grow back. They’ve already succeeded in trials on mice and are preparing for human clinical trials now."

"Really? You can grow new teeth?"

Lin Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up.

"Yep. In theory, it stimulates the regeneration of tooth germ cells. But don’t get your hopes up. This technology is a long way from being on the market. The earliest it could be widely available is probably 2030."

The dentist poured cold water on her excitement.

"2030..." Lin Xiaoyu pouted. "I’ll be old by then. What’s the point of growing new teeth? I’ll just stick to the implant."

「After she returned home,」

still unconvinced, Lin Xiaoyu looked up related information.

...

Once a person’s tooth is damaged, it’s essentially irreversible. This has become a subconscious consensus for most people.

People habitually think, "Teeth aren’t like hair; they don’t grow back."

But that might be about to change.

Teeth can be "regrown"—not in the science-fiction sense, but as a reality under a laboratory microscope.

In 2024, a research team from Fukuoka University and Kyoto University in Japan published a key study in *Science Advances*.

They successfully induced adult mice to grow complete new teeth by inhibiting a protein called USAG-1.

This wasn’t tissue repair or orthodontic adjustment. It was the real deal: "growing a whole new tooth."

That’s right. Human teeth might get a "third chance."

People have always thought that humans only grow two sets of teeth: baby teeth and permanent teeth.

But in reality, the potential for a "third set of tooth germs" lies dormant within the human genome.

This potential has long been "suppressed" by the USAG-1 protein.

But now, scientists have found an antibody drug that can awaken these "sleeping tooth germs."

In mouse experiments, 100% of the test subjects successfully grew new teeth.

The researchers are now planning to initiate Phase 1 clinical trials in humans, with the trial phase expected to begin in 2026.

Why do we need "regenerated teeth" when we’ve had dentists for so long?

It all goes back to evolution.

Human teeth were not designed for the modern diet.

Our dental structure is better suited for tearing raw meat and chewing nuts and hard-shelled fruits.

Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors had no rice cookers, no dental floss, and no desserts.

If a tooth went bad, you were likely "naturally selected" out.

But the pace of evolution is as slow as a geriatric snail, while the progress of human civilization is a jet plane.

Our teeth haven’t kept up with the changes in our diet. It’s like you’re still texting on a Nokia while everyone else is holding meetings with AI.

Sugar, high-temperature processing, refined carbohydrates, sugary drinks, late-night snacks, poor oral hygiene...

These are all "traps" we set for our own teeth.

Modern humans are far more vulnerable to dental disease than we’d like to admit.