Odontis Ltd a King’s College London tech venture start-up was formed in 2002 for the express purpose of using a (dental) patient’s own stem cells to grow replacement teeth. The stem cells will be differentiated into tooth-forming cells called odontoblasts, grown externally into an early initiation stage pre-tooth (takes about 2 months) and then implanted into the patient’s jaw to grow into a normal tooth. Regenerative dentistry is currently under development and expected to be available in a few years.
If there is ever an Odontis IPO, buy as much as you can, because there will be a large market for this product, and Odontis, apparently, holds the patents for using stem cells to grow teeth.
In general, tissue engineering holds enormous potential for benefiting human health. See here, or here for further information.
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I’d love to grow my own teeth. It would sure beat getting another root canal!