Filling the gaps
‘We are hoping the drug will be a third option that stands out from the existing treatments like dentures and implants.’
Text size
Share
Daily Tribune‘We are hoping the drug will be a third option that stands out from the existing treatments like dentures and implants.’
Share
One disadvantage of wearing dentures is the discomfort while eating. Food debris easily gets stuck under the false teeth.
For an unnamed 22-year-old man from Wisconsin, USA, wearing fancy silver fake teeth proved dangerous. During an epileptic seizure, he accidentally swallowed the denture and it got stuck in his throat, New York Post (NYP) reports.
The man started coughing and wheezing so he was taken to the hospital where X-rays showed his 1.5-inch denture blocking his airway, NYP said, citing a report on the freak case in the Cureus Medical Journal published last month.
Doctors performed a bronchoscopy on the patient. A flexible tube was ran down the man’s throat that dislodged the false teeth from his airway.
This type of accident may be prevented with a new drug that will start trials at Kyoto University Hospital in September.
Researchers at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan developed the drug to treat people with congenital edentulism, a condition where they are born with fewer teeth than normal, Asahi Shimbun (AS) reports.
People with the condition have difficulty eating and properly developing their jaws, so they rely on dentures or implants as adults, according to AS.
The drug works by suppressing the molecule USAG-1 that inhibits the function of bone-forming proteins. Initial tests on animals resulted in mice and a dog generating teeth.
If the clinical trial on humans lasting until August 2025 is good and subsequent tests find it safe to use, the injectable drug would be tried to grow teeth in 2 to 7-year-old children with missing teeth.
“We are hoping the drug will be a third option that stands out from the existing treatments like dentures and implants,” Katsu Takahashi, head of the dentistry and oral surgery department of Kitano Hospital, told AS.
