Biology instead of implants: a pathway to tooth regeneration discovered

Scientists set out to understand how exactly the root of a tooth forms—the part that anchors the tooth in the jaw and provides its stability.

The results of the new study were published in the International Journal of Oral Science.

It turns out that this process is far more complex than it seems and is governed by a kind of internal “signaling system” within the body.

At the center of this system are two proteins—Gli2 and Gli3—which can be thought of as regulators or “dispatchers” coordinating cell activity.

During tooth development, cells must not only actively divide but also “understand” what they are supposed to become—for example, cells that form dentin, ligaments, or bone tissue. Gli2 and Gli3 provide these instructions. When scientists experimentally “switched off” one of these proteins, there were almost no major changes. But when the function of the other was disrupted, tooth roots became noticeably shorter and weaker. And when both proteins were absent, development nearly stopped: cells divided more slowly, lost the ability to properly specialize, and the root formed incorrectly.

Most interestingly, these proteins do not just directly control cells—they also regulate communication between key signaling pathways that determine tissue development. When this communication is disrupted, the entire growth process begins to malfunction. However, during the experiment, researchers were able to partially “bypass” the problem: they artificially activated one of these signaling pathways and observed that root growth was partially restored, and cells began to develop more normally again.

This discovery is important not only from a fundamental science perspective. It helps explain why some people develop congenital dental problems and, more importantly, opens up prospects for future treatment. If scientists learn to control these mechanisms, it may eventually become possible not just to replace damaged teeth with implants, but to stimulate the body to regenerate them.

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