With stem cell repair technology, researchers hope to avoid the continued use of silver amalgam to treat dental caries. Odile Kellermann, a researcher at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, led a team of Parisian researchers who conducted experiments on the project in mice. Now, we are not telling you a children’s story about mice giving gifts to children who have lost their teeth. This time, these mice will help us make the big discovery we’ve all been waiting for: the ability of teeth to repair themselves naturally. This major scientific work, just published in the academic journal Impact Factor, may revolutionize the way existing dental treatments are carried out. In its bulletin, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research mentions that the tooth is a mineralized organ that is deeply rooted in the mouth by means of its roots. The “living” part of the tooth, which we call the cavity, houses the pulp, which is composed of nerves and blood vessels. Its periphery is covered with a hard substance: the dentin. The surface of the dentin in the crown is covered with a harder enamel. When a carious tooth forms, the “sleeping” stem cells in the pulp are awakened and repair the diseased tooth without our knowledge. It is these amazing stem cells that members of the Paris research team are working on. The researchers finally extracted stem cells from the molars of experimental mice and successfully isolated them. They then analyzed these cells in detail and identified five specific reception sites on their surface for dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine (neurotransmitters, messengers of information in the brain). According to their study, the distribution of these receptive sites on the surface suggests that stem cells can respond to the presence of dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine in response to lesions in dental cells. Therefore, what must be done is to identify the corresponding source cells that secrete these neurotransmitters. Finally, large amounts of dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine are released by the platelets activated by the dental lesion. These released neurotransmitters attach to the receiving sites of the stem cells, rallying them for repair work. To further confirm this conclusion, the research team did another experiment. They altered the platelets of another group of rodents so that they could not secrete dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine, which means they could not transmit signals. By observation, this group of animals did not have the ability to repair their teeth. Then, the researchers succeeded in clearly characterizing these five receptive sites. Four were closely related to the restoration process, and the only one of them was “disruptive” enough to hinder the restoration process in the experimental mice. “Today, dentists clean the teeth of bacteria and then just plug the holes with fillings,” Odile Kellermann said with regret, “Our results could lead to new techniques that seek to harness the potential of disease-resistant stem cells to get rid of fillings such as silver amalgam. fillings such as silver amalgam, making natural tooth restoration a reality. “After that, it’s just a matter of clinical trials to further confirm the results of the study.