Retrievers May Help Cleft Palate Research

As you all may well know by now, I am a huge dog lover and came across this story in my alumni newsletter. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers are helping researchers at UC Davis unlock the genetic mutations involved in cleft palate patients (whether the be canines or humans). Check out the full story here or you can read the reproduced article below.

Happy Labor Day weekend,
Dr. Lynda Tran
KaiDentistry.com

Cleft palate discovery in dogs to aid in understanding human birth defect

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This puppy is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, the breed with the newly discovered genetic mutation for cleft palate. Read more news from the School of Veterinary Medicine. (Danika Bannasch/UC Davis)

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine researchers have identified the genetic mutation responsible for a form of cleft palate in the dog breed Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers.

They hope that the discovery, which provides the first dog model for the craniofacial defect, will lead to a better understanding of cleft palate in humans. Although cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects in children, affecting approximately one in 1,500 live human births in the United States, it is not completely understood.

The findings appear this week online in the journal PLOS Genetics and are available online athttps://tinyurl.com/knr8wb3.

“This discovery provides novel insight into the genetic cause of a form of cleft palate through the use of a less conventional animal model,” said Professor Danika Bannasch, a veterinary geneticist who led the study. “It also demonstrates that dogs have multiple genetic causes of cleft palate that we anticipate will aid in the identification of additional candidate genes relevant to human cleft palate.”

Bannasch, who holds the Maxine Adler endowed chair in genetics, explains that common breeding practices have made the dog a unique animal model to help understand the genetic basis of naturally occurring birth defects.

By conducting a genome-wide study of these particular retrievers with a naturally occurring cleft palate, researchers identified a mutation responsible for the development of cleft palate in the breed. Dogs with this mutation also have a shortened lower jaw, similar to humans who have Pierre Robin Sequence. The disorder, a subset of cleft palate, affects one in 8,500 live human births and is characterized by a cleft palate, shortened lower jaw and displacement of the tongue base.

Cleft palate condition occurs when there is a failure in the formation of the secondary palate, which makes up all of the soft palate and the majority of the hard palate. A disruption in the sequential steps of palate development causes a cleft palate and leads to the spectrum of cases that are observed. Children born with cleft palate may develop hearing loss and difficulties with speech and eating. They also may be at increased risk for neurological deficits.

Additional UC Davis researchers include: Zena T. Wolf, a graduate student in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction at the School of Veterinary Medicine, whose thesis topic is the study of craniofacial clefts in dogs; and Assistant Professor Boaz Arzi from the Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Funding was provided by the Center for Companion Animal Health at the School of Veterinary Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

About UC Davis

UC Davis is a global community of individuals united to better humanity and our natural world while seeking solutions to some of our most pressing challenges. Located near the California state capital, UC Davis has more than 34,000 students, and the full-time equivalent of 4,100 faculty and other academics and 17,400 staff. The campus has an annual research budget of over $750 million, a comprehensive health system and about two dozen specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and 99 undergraduate majors in four colleges and six professional schools.

Media contact(s):

• Danika Bannasch, School of Veterinary Medicine, (530) 752-1358, dlbannasch@ucdavis.edu
• Trina Wood, School of Veterinary Medicine, (530) 752-5257, tjwood@ucdavis.edu
• Pat Bailey, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu

Drinking Coffee Accelerates Tooth Movement

A recent study from West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University found that caffeine affects the bone metabolism in the jaw, which can accelerate tooth movement. This is very exciting news for all of us in the orthodontics/braces world!

Check out the article here or the scientific paper here.

To Cuppa Joe,
Dr. Lynda Tran
KaiDentistry.com

Wooly Mammoth Tooth Found in New Hampshire

Biology professor Fred Prince makes his discovery...twice. Check out the article here about his search for this 10,000+ year old molar or you can read the reproduced article below. (Unfortunately, the age of the sample could not be confirmed due to the lack of collagen.)

Here's to the elephant's distant cousin,
Dr. Lynda Tran
KaiDentistry.com

Wooly Mammoth Tooth Provides First Evidence Of Behemoth Roaming New Hampshire

By Rebekah Marcarelli r.marcarelli@hngn.com | Aug 02, 2014 10:35 PM EDT

A recently-discovered wooly mammoth tooth is the first evidence of the creature's existence in New Hampshire. 

A decade ago researcher Plymouth State University biology professor Fred Prince found a strange object near a stream in Campton. Not knowing what it was he tossed it away, the university reported. 

"I threw it away, I just dropped it back into the gravel," Prince recalls. "It was ten years after the fact when I realized what I had done."

"As soon as I put that partial molar in my hand I was back ten years ago beside that stream," Prince said.  "I felt sick knowing what I tossed aside."

The mistake inspired Prince to do more research on wooly mammoths and their anatomy. 

"I told my wife, 'I'm going to go look for a mammoth molar,' and I found this in a decades-old gravel pit; it was the third place I looked," Prince said. "It was embedded into the surface of the ground, and I could see those contours on top. I know it's hard to believe, but that's what happened.  I went out specifically to find a mammoth tooth and I did.  So, with this second chance, I officially had the first New Hampshire mammoth find to go along with my unofficial find of years ago."

Prince sent photos of the molar to Doctor Larry Agenbroad, Director of The Mammoth Site in South Dakota, who confirmed it was a wooly mammoth tooth. The specimen was also sent to Accelerator Mass Spectrometry lab at the University of Arizona for radiocarbon dating, but the collagen was not preserved well enough for an analysis. 

Mammoth remains are extremely rare in New England. Findings include a tooth and tusk discovered in 1848; a partial skeleton found in 1959; and a tooth in 2013. The researcher believes many other have been found, but also tossed aside. 

"I wouldn't doubt there are people who have picked up something like this and did the same thing I did ten years ago. I think people have assumed some were here in New England, but there isn't much evidence, in part due to the acidity of our soil and in part likely a result of low population density," Prince said. 

Has Your Kid Faked His Kidnapping to Avoid the Dentist?

In recent news, a 12 year old French boy faked his own kidnapping to save himself from a visit to the dentist! Click to view the story here.

Moms, dads and guardians, this should not be happening! It is very difficult to hear and read stories like this. There are many steps that we can take together to make your child's visit comfortable, educational and fun. A few standout steps are...

First, it's important to start familiarizing your child with the dental office at a young age. Often times the first few visits are short, fun and prize-filled (!), providing your child with an opportunity to associate these visits with a positive experience. For more about what to expect from your child's first visit, check out this entry from What to Expect.

Second, please try your best to not relate discomforting thoughts to your child. For instance, often parents may not realize they're conveying negative associations when saying: "Don't worry, nothing will hurt." or "We're seeing the dentist tomorrow. Don't cry." or (my favorite) "You better behave, or they'll give you a shot." I would recommend something along the lines of, "The dentist will count your teeth and you'll get to ride a really cool chair." Keep positive thoughts going!

Last (but certainly not least), no bribing or making promises! In order to build rapport between your child and the dentist, it's important that your child trusts the dentist entirely. Often when bribing (e.g. "You'll get a new toy after your visit."), the child subconsciously thinks that they have to ensure something negative in order to get the prize. And when promises such as "It's going to be really quick!" or "It's not gonna hurt, promise!" are broken, the child loses trust in both the parent and the dentist. Setting realistic expectations is imperative in building a long-lasting, positive relationship between your child and their dental visits.

As always, I am here for any questions or concerns.

To making kid-friendly masks less scary,
Dr. Lynda Tran
KaiDentistry.com

Teeth Regeneration with "Lasers" - Sorry No Sharks, Dr. Evil

Happy June, everyone! Lasers are becoming more and more prominent in the dental health field. The latest news details a study where lasers have shown to regenerate teeth in rats. Check out the full article below or click here for the original article. Unfortunately, there are no sharks attached to these "frikin" laser beams.

Mini-me, you complete me,

Dr. Lynda Tran

KaiDentistry.com

Scientists Have Figured Out How to Regenerate Teeth With Lasers

This post originally appeared on Business Insider. 

Using lasers to regenerate and grow body parts sounds like science fiction, but researchers have just demonstrated that it might be a tranformative tool in medicine—or at least dentistry—in the future.

A Harvard-led team just successfully used low-powered lasers to activate stem cells and stimulate the growth of teeth in rats and human dental tissue in a lab. The results were published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Stem cells exist throughout the body, and they fascinate scientists because they have the ability to become different types of cells — which means they have the potential to repair or replace damaged or worn out tissue. Figuring out new ways to make them useful has long been a goal of medical researchers.

Using lasers to make stem cells do their work is particularly appealing, since it's a minimally invasive technique, only requiring light once the damaged area is exposed. Scientists have theorized in the past that this was possible, since lasers have been shown to stimulate growth for unknown reasons, but this is the first time that the process has been demonstrated and observed.

The ability to naturally regrow dental tissue could transform dentistry, making it possible to regrow teeth instead of replacing them with a substitute like porcelain. But even more amazingly, once it's better understood, this same technique could potentially be used to heal wounds and regenerate bone, skin, and muscle.

The research is in its earliest stages and has not yet been tested on humans, so it's far too soon to say whether these futuristic techniques will ever make it to your local hospital. The treatment possibilities raised by these experiments, however, are exciting to contemplate.

How it worked

This is the exposed rat molar that received the laser treatment, causing it to start to grow back.

Since the 1960s, doctors have noticed that medical lasers could occasionally stimulate the growth of skin, hair, and other cells. But this is the first time, the researchers write, that the process has been analyzed and understood on a molecular level.

The first step for researchers was to drill holes in two rat molars, exposing the interior of the tooth underneath.

They exposed dentin, which is the harder-than-bone but softer-than-enamel tissue that teeth are mostly made of. Then, they lit up the dentin using a low-powered laser, trying to get the stem cells there to kick into action and start producing more dentin to replace the damaged area.

One molar received the laser treatment, the other did not.

Twelve weeks later, the researchers observed that the dentin in the molar that received treatment was growing again — the tooth was growing back. (The results were the same when they did the experiment again in mice.)

The researchers then tested the same technique on various mammal cells under a microscope. Each time, the laser light caused certain oxygen-containing molecules to appear. Those molecules then caused stem cells to begin their conversion into cells producing dentin, tooth tissue. This showed researchers how lasers can cause tissue to regenerate, which they say had never been seen before.

When tested with human dental stem cells, the effects were similar. The lasers activated the stem cells, which can become many different types of cells, and specifically caused them to start forming dentin.

These three experiments were all focused on the same goal, which was to see if laser light would cause the stem cells in tissue (which had been inactive) to begin the process of generating new tissue. The rat molars showed that it was possible in a living example, while the mammal cells showed exactly how the lasers were working. Using human cells was a way of showing that what was done with rats has the potential to work the same way with human teeth, which the researchers say is the next step in their process.

Why it's not ready for prime time yet

This model shows how much smaller a rat tooth is than a normal human tooth, though this "rat tooth" is actually a resized image of a human one.

One particular technical challenge of this experiment, according to researchers, was performing oral surgery on tiny rodent teeth. "This is one of those rare cases where it would be easier to do this work on a human," said David Mooney, a professor of bioengineering at Harvard, in the press release.

New rat teeth didn't develop perfectly. There was some extra and unnecessary buildup of tooth tissue, which frequently occurs naturally but can potentially lead to painful conditions that need medical attention, including a root canal. However, researchers expect that in humans it would be possible to better cover up areas not being treated, since human teeth are larger. They say that they could more accurately activate certain growth areas without causing widespread tissue formation, but the process has not yet been tested.

The researchers say that they are currently developing human trials for this technique. If those are successful, this could lead to testing laser treatments that regenerate bone, muscle, and other cells throughout the body.

Top Comment

Is this really how we want science to use laser technology?  I certainly don't.  I want my laser sharks and my name carved into the moon.  Priorities, people.  More...

-Baron von Monocle

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"We are also excited about expanding these observations to other regenerative applications with other types of stem cells," said Praveen Arany, the study's lead author and an assistant clinical investigator at the National Institutes of Health, in the news release.

Teeth Cells Can Be Pretty Smart - A Potential Stroke Therapy

In the latest Stem Cell Research and Therapy journal, researchers reporting that stem cells from our teeth can grow to resemble brain cells. This finding can be a potential therapy for the brain in stroke victims. Check out the full article on Medical News Today here or scroll down to read the article reproduced below.

Best,
Dr. Lynda Tran
KaiDentistry.com

Potential stroke therapy: stem cells from teeth form brain-like cells

Pictured here, dental pulp stem cell-derived brain-like cells from mice form complex networks.
Image credit: Dr. Kylie Ellis, University of Adelaide

Stem cells are cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types, aiding tissue regeneration, cardiovascular disease and blood disease treatments. But now, researchers have found that stem cells from teeth grow to resemble brain cells, a discovery they say could be harnessed in the brain for stroke therapy.

The team, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, publish their results in the journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy.

Led by Dr. Kylie Ellis, of the university's Adelaide Research & Innovation (ARI), the researchers say interest in using dental pulp stem cells for post-stroke neurological recovery has been growing, following successful pre-clinical studies.

"The reality is," says Dr. Ellis, "treatment options to the thousands of stroke patients every year are limited."

She explains that the main available drug treatment has to be dispensed within hours of a stroke, but most people do not have access to the treatment within that window, as they sometimes do not seek help immediately after a stroke occurs.

In the lab, the research team was able to show that stem cells taken from teeth can flourish and "form complex networks of brain-like cells." Though the cells did not grow into full neurons, the team believes with time and the right conditions, it will happen.

Discovery could yield 'tailor-made brain therapy'

Along with her colleagues, Dr. Ellis has been working on a model in the lab for treatment in humans. She notes that, in this research, she and her team discovered that teeth-derived stem cells developed into cells closely resembling neurons.

She says they do this by creating an environment for the cells as close to the normal brain environment as they possibly can. She adds that "instead of becoming cells for teeth, they become brain cells."

Dr. Ellis and her team say they would like to have the capability to use a patient's own stem cells for "tailor-made brain therapy that doesn't have the host rejection issues commonly associated with cell-based therapies."

Additionally, the bonus in using this tailor-made therapy is that it could mean a treatment option is available "months or even years after the stroke has occurred," Dr. Ellis adds.

And beyond stroke therapy, they say their work with dental pulp stem cells creates the potential for exploring other common brain disorders in the lab, possibly yielding other new treatments.

"What we developed wasn't identical to normal neurons," says Dr. Ellis, "but the new cells shared very similar properties to neurons. They also formed complex networks and communicated through simple electrical activity, like you might see between cells in the developing brain."

In other stem cell research news, Medical News Today recently reported on a breakthrough study, in which researchers created the first disease-specific embryonic stem cell line with two sets of chromosomes. They said their findings could yield patient-specific therapies for type 1 diabetes.

Meanwhile, researchers from another study created the first stem cell model for bipolar disorder, which they say could lead to new treatments.

Written by Marie Ellis

Meet and Greet @ UCSC

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a wonderful group of bright, aspiring dentists this past Wednesday! A few local dentists and I were invited by the Pre-Dental Society at UCSC to talk to students who are interested in pursuing a career in this wonderful profession.

Sharing a bit of my experience of admissions and what dental school life was at UCSF, this event quickly became very nostalgic for me. It's such an exciting time and what an incredible time to be joining the profession. Wish them all well on their journey!

Good luck Pre-Dent Slugs,
Dr. Lynda Tran
KaiDentistry.com