| Seq #235 |
Saturday, 28 June 2003 |
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| 8:00 AM-8:45 AM Svenska Massan Congress Hall, Plenary |
| Genetic Dentistry - Making Teeth the Hard Way |
| * Poster files available online |
Sponsored by: IADR |
| Description: Although there have been massive improvements in the delivery of dental treatment, much of the technology currently used still involves techniques that were first practiced by the Romans!
Teeth are formed from a complex series of reciprocal epithelial-mesenchymal interactions that begin early in embryogenesis. Despite requiring the integration of different cell signaling pathways and co-coordinated transcription of many genes for their formation, the initiation events of tooth formation that “kick-start” the whole process may be relatively simple. Recent advances in understanding the genetic control of tooth position, size and shape mean that there is now a realistic possibility of designing novel biological approaches for dental treatment.
Progress in stem cell biology and tissue engineering can provide the opportunity to harness this understanding of the genetic control of the key processes that form teeth in the embryo and use these to re-create these processes in the laboratory. In this way, the embryonic development of a tooth may be recreated in the mouth of an adult patient |
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8:00 AM | Genetic Dentistry - Making Teeth the Hard Way
P. SHARPE, United Medical & Dental Schools of Guy's & St. Thomas, London, United Kingdom |
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