Sorry for the cynicism, but I grew up subscribing to Popular Science and I gained a very jaundiced view of this kind of science/technology popularizing
5 or something years ago I read here, on hn, about novamin/biomin and started to buy toothpaste with it.
Since that I had 0 cavities, even if my toothcare routine isn’t the best: most of the time I brush only in evening and when I had severe clinical depression episode I could go weeks without brushing.
I guess I should admit that eventually I got lazy and skipped a night, and immediately got a cavity that led to having a tooth removed, and now I use toothpaste and floss. But still, anecdotes, what are they worth.
I'd then brush my teeth hoping it would cure the depression. It clearly worked, because I'm no longer depressed. It just took a few years to kick in.
Always remember to brush your teeth.
My guess is the SLS detergent, present in Crest and not in Burt's, is the more significant factor.
I buy Canadian? Sensodyne that has novamin in it.
I think regularly brushing your teeth and getting cleanings makes a big difference obviously. Gum disease or gingivitis mainly happens to people who have long-term dental care issues or certain bad habits.
A regular child skill looks more like this x-ray
https://ccdcsmiles.com/userfiles/651/images/IMG_4253.jpg (from a dental clinic I found while searching).
Yes, you can see the adult teeth, but not all of them, and not like the hyperdontia cases.
I have a condition where my lower front permanent teeth never developed. We weren't sure if any of our kids would have the same issue so we discussed it with the dentist. They couldn't tell us if all the permanent teeth were present or developing because there hadn't been enough time for first xrays to show all of the permanent teeth buds growing. Even at age 3.
I don't see if mentioned in TFA, but if new human teeth can be grown is it expected that the new ones will just grow in "correctly" to fit a person's mouth?
Yes but in comparative dental analysis they use ante-mortem dental records to compare with post-mortem remains. It's not like DNA where you can record it once and then use that to match samples decades later in a database. In order to have a high confidence in a match, recent x-rays and records of dental work like fillings, crowns, etc. work best.
And no it is not expected. It's one of the primary challenges with bringing these kinds of drugs to market, as hyperdontia is already relatively common among humans (I had an incisor growing at the roof of my mouth an inch behind my row of teeth). Most successful applications of these tooth regrowth drugs tend to place them near the root of missing teeth hoping that the cellular growth signaling mechanisms are still working.
I was amazed.
YMMV.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00402-025-05869-x
Like what can they grow?
I think they're making progress.
[0] https://www.psychiatrist.com/jcp/analytical-review-depressio...
Minoxidil won’t help grow hair on a patch of bold skin. After that only hair transplantation
Apparently there's also now-a-days, Micro-needling, Stem Cell Therapy, Platelet-Rich Plasma, and others. No idea how effective they actually are
If you look like Sir Patrick Stewart, yeah, that’s not growing back. A bald spot might fill in with medical treatment though.
I started K2 about 10 years ago. Next dental checkup (about a year too late) the dental tech said my teeth appeared recently-cleaned. This has continued since then. No cavities, little cleaning required other than regular brushing, flossing and taking k2.
