![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.johnjhermanddsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/babygatorMain.jpeg\")
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AN ALLIGATOR HAS 80+ TEETH<\/strong> that can each be replaced up to 50 times during its life! Potentially, that\u2019s thousands of teeth! You may be thinking, \u201cWow, that\u2019s cool… But why are we talking about alligator teeth on this human<\/em> dental blog?\u201d Well, alligators may be helping scientists learn how to stimulate tooth renewal in humans<\/strong>. <\/p>\n Like humans, alligators have well organized teeth, with different functions, fixed in bony sockets. Research shows that there are three parts (or phases) to each alligator tooth\u2014a working tooth, a substitute tooth (ready to replace the working tooth should it be lost), and the dental lamina (a band of tissue that is the apparent hub for new teeth development). Humans are similar, with one big difference. We have adult teeth (these are our \u201cworking teeth\u201d) and we have dental lamina. What we don\u2019t have are substitute teeth. While most vertebrates can replace teeth until the day they die, human teeth replace themselves only once. The million dollar question is, why do replacement teeth stop growing after our first adult set? <\/p>\n Researchers believe that the\u00a0dental lamina is the source of tooth regeneration. Stem cells in the lamina stimulate growth<\/strong>. For some reason our lamina turns off when adult teeth arrive. Researchers are working to isolate the exact lamina growth triggers in alligators so that perhaps they can duplicate them in humans. They believe they\u2019ve found a \u201cpromising protein compound\u201d but still have a lot of work to do to create the proper elemental combination. <\/p>\n The idea of human tooth regeneration is exciting (that\u2019s why we brought it up!), but it isn\u2019t right around the corner. So, in the meantime, continue taking great care of the teeth you have! <\/p>\n AN ALLIGATOR HAS 80+ TEETH<\/strong> that can each be replaced up to 50 times during its life…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-176","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Alligator Teeth Are Similar To Human Teeth<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Secret May Be In The Dental Lamina<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A Video Overview<\/strong><\/h3>\n
For Now, It\u2019s A Waiting Game<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Thank you for stopping by our blog! And thanks for being our valued patients and friends.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"