Scientists discover teeth can be regrown with an Alzheimer drug

Traditional fillings could become a thing of the past after a drug developed to treat Alzheimer's patients was found to make teeth regrow.

The 'natural repair' approach means fillings would never fall out.

Instead, the tooth would heal itself by regrowing to fill the hole that in the past would have required a filling.

Traditional fillings are created using materials such as dental amalgam, composite and cement.

But as well as falling out, they have other significant drawbacks. They often require replacement during a patient's lifetime, and can be prone to infection.

During repairs to a man-made filling, a larger area of tooth has to be drilled out, and after multiple fillings the tooth will often need to be extracted.

Now researchers at King's College London have discovered that the drug, Tideglusib, can stimulate dentine, the hard material beneath the outer enamel surface in teeth.

The drug has been tested for use in Alzheimer's patients and for another brain disease, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which has just claimed the life of singer Peter Sarstedt.