If you have ever lost a tooth, you know how much it changes daily life. Chewing gets harder. Smiling feels different. And the choices dentists offer today, like implants and dentures, take real effort to maintain.
Two separate research efforts made headlines this year for good reason. Scientists at King’s College London figured out how to help lab-grown cells start forming a tooth, using a material developed with Imperial College London that lets tooth cells “talk” to each other. Meanwhile, a Japanese biotech company is testing a drug meant to wake up dormant tooth buds that sit unused in human jaws.
Neither project has produced a tooth ready for a patient’s mouth. Both mark real steps forward in tooth regeneration, though, and both are worth understanding clearly, without the hype that often surrounds headlines like these. If you are dealing with a missing tooth right now, established dental care, such as implants, bridges, or dentures, remains the only proven path to a working replacement while this science develops.
Key Takeaways
- Researchers have found ways to start tooth formation in a lab and to test a drug aimed at regrowing teeth, but neither has produced a usable replacement tooth yet.
- Japan’s investigational USAG-1 drug has completed early human safety testing and is moving toward a study in children with congenital tooth agenesis, not general use.
- Dental implants and dentures remain the reliable options for missing teeth today, and dentists recommend not delaying care while regenerative treatments are studied.
What Did the King’s College London Team Actually Achieve?
Researchers at King’s College London, working with Imperial College Imperial College London, found a way to help cultured tooth cells begin the process of tooth formation in a lab dish. This is a meaningful advance in understanding tooth development, though it stops well short of a lab-grown tooth ready for a patient.
How an Engineered Material Helps Tooth Cells Communicate
The team built a special material that mimics the matrix, the natural environment surrounding cells in the body. Xuechen Zhang, a researcher on the project, explained that this material lets cells release chemical signals slowly over time, the way they would inside a real jaw, according to King’s College London.
Earlier attempts had failed because all the signals were released at once. Spacing the signals out let one cell effectively “tell” another to start turning into a tooth cell, kicking off early tooth formation.
Why Starting Tooth Formation Is Not the Same as Growing a Tooth
Getting cells to begin forming a tooth in a dish is different from producing a structure that could function in someone’s mouth. The BBC reported that this breakthrough fills gaps in scientific knowledge rather than gaps in anyone’s smile.
Dr. Ana Angelova Volponi, who leads regenerative dentistry at King’s College London, called the discovery a step that helps researchers understand what teeth need to grow. Turning that understanding into a full, transplantable tooth is a separate challenge still ahead.
How Might a Lab-Grown Tooth Reach a Patient’s Mouth?
Researchers are considering two main strategies for placing lab-grown tooth material inside a patient’s mouth, and both are still theoretical. Neither approach has been tested in humans yet.
Growing Young Tooth Cells at the Site of a Missing Tooth
One idea involves transplanting young tooth cells directly into the gap left by a missing tooth. The cells would then, in theory, continue developing inside the mouth itself, using the body’s own environment to finish forming a tooth.
Zhang described this as one of two possible paths the team is exploring, noting that “we could transplant the young tooth cells at the location of the missing tooth and let them grow inside mouth,” as reported by the BBC. This would require the early tooth development process to already be running before implantation.
Growing a Tooth in the Lab Before Transplantation
The second approach would grow a complete tooth outside the body first, then place it in the patient’s mouth once it reaches a usable stage. This mirrors how organ transplants work in other areas of regenerative medicine, though teeth bring their own complications around size, shape, and root formation.
Both paths depend on the same starting point: recreating early tooth development in a lab setting. Researchers have not said which method they expect to succeed first, and years of additional work separate either idea from real patients.
Can Blocking USAG-1 Stimulate New Teeth?
Blocking a protein called USAG-1 has regrown teeth in animal studies, which is why Japanese researchers are now testing a similar approach in people. Human results so far focus on safety, not on whether the treatment actually regrows teeth.
What USAG-1 Does During Tooth Development
USAG-1 works like a brake pedal on tooth growth. It suppresses the development of a third set of teeth that humans carry in bud form but never grow, according to research from the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital described by Dentistry.
Dr. Katsu Takahashi, who leads this research, has said that humans lost the ability to grow this third set of teeth over time but still carry the buds they would develop from. Blocking USAG-1 with an antibody, in theory, releases that brake and lets dormant buds grow into full teeth.
What Animal Studies Have and Have Not Demonstrated
Researchers have induced tooth growth in mice and ferrets by neutralizing USAG-1, giving scientists the evidence base that led to human trials. These are the results that convinced Japan’s health ministry to grant the drug, known as TRG035, Orphan Medicinal Product designation.
Animal success does not guarantee the same result in people. Human biology, dosing, and safety profiles all differ from mice and ferrets, which is exactly why the drug has moved through careful, staged human testing rather than jumping straight to wider use.
What Have Japan’s Human Trials Shown So Far?
Japan’s first human trial of TRG035 tested safety in adults, and the company developing the drug says it passed that stage. As of September 2026, the drug has not been shown to regrow a tooth in a human patient.
What the Initial Safety Study Tested
Kyoto University Hospital began dosing patients in October 2024, enrolling 30 men between ages 30 and 64 who were each missing at least one molar, according to Dentistry. The study was randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled, giving participants a single intravenous dose of either the drug or a placebo.
The Japanese clinical trial registry lists this Phase I study as complete, and Toregem BioPharma, the company behind the drug, says it confirmed the drug’s safety. Detailed results have not been made public. In May 2026, Toregem said it had raised $5.3 million toward Phase II trials, with cumulative funding, including grants, topping $29 million.
Why the Planned Study Focuses on Children with Congenital Tooth Agenesis
The next planned study targets children born with severe congenital tooth agenesis, a condition where six or more permanent teeth never develop. In August 2026, Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency completed its review of the clinical trial notification for this Phase IIa study, which plans to test dosing in 24 children across multiple sites, as reported by Dentistry.
That notification is not the same as approval. An institutional review board still needs to assess the study, and Toregem has not announced a start date. Children with this condition were chosen because their need for new teeth is severe and well defined, making any real effect easier to measure.
What Still Stands Between Research and a Working Tooth?
A working, transplantable tooth needs to grow in the right place, connect properly to the jaw, and hold up to years of biting and chewing. Neither the King’s College London research nor Japan’s drug trial has reached that point yet.
Getting a Tooth to Form in the Right Place and Function Normally
A tooth is more than a hard, white structure. It needs roots that anchor into bone, nerves that sense pressure and temperature, and enamel that resists decay. Researchers still need to prove that lab-started tooth cells or drug-stimulated buds will grow in the correct position, size, and shape inside a real mouth.
Establishing Long-Term Safety and Reliable Results
Any new tooth treatment needs years of follow-up data before dentists can offer it with confidence. Regulators will want proof that regrown teeth function normally over time and that treatments like TRG035 do not cause unexpected side effects down the road. That kind of long-term evidence takes years to gather, regardless of how promising early results look.
How Does Regrowth Compare with Today’s Tooth Replacements?
Dental implants and dentures remain the only proven, widely available treatments for missing teeth today. Tooth regrowth research aims at a different goal: replacing a lost tooth with living tissue instead of artificial material.
| Dental Implants | Dentures | Tooth Regrowth (Experimental) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Availability | Available now | Available now | Not available to patients |
| Material | Titanium post, artificial crown | Removable artificial teeth | Patient’s own biological tissue |
| Typical lifespan of crown | About 15 years | Varies with care | Unknown, not yet tested long-term |
| Requires surgery | Yes | No | Unknown |
| Nerve sensation | No | No | Unknown, theoretical goal |
Why Implants and Dentures Remain Available Options
Implants combine a screw-like post, a connector, and an artificial crown, giving patients a stable, functional replacement tooth. Artificial crowns typically need replacement after about 15 years and can cost thousands of dollars depending on insurance coverage, as described in reporting from BBC. Dentures remain a non-surgical option, though they come with their own maintenance needs.
Why Repairing Tooth Tissue Is Different from Replacing a Whole Tooth
Implants and dentures do not restore biological function. They fill the space a tooth once occupied without replicating nerves, blood supply, or the tooth’s natural ability to sense pressure. That is the gap regenerative dentistry hopes to close, though closing it safely takes far more evidence than either research effort has produced.
When Could Tooth Regrowth Become Available?
No tooth regrowth treatment has a confirmed date for general use, despite some reports mentioning 2030 as a target. That year reflects hopes described by researchers involved in the USAG-1 drug trial, not a confirmed release date.
Why Trial Milestones Are Not Treatment Approvals
Completing a safety trial or receiving a clinical trial notification are early steps, not approvals to treat patients broadly. Toregem’s Phase IIa study still needs institutional review board clearance before it can even begin enrolling children, according to Dentistry. A positive Phase I safety result says nothing about whether the treatment actually works.
What Researchers Must Demonstrate Before Routine Use
Before any regenerative dentistry treatment reaches a dental office, researchers need clear evidence that it works in humans, that effects last, and that risks stay low across a larger group of patients. That process includes additional trial phases, regulatory review in each country where the treatment might be offered, and time for dentists to learn how to use it safely. Every step so far, from King’s College London’s lab work to Japan’s drug trials, represents early progress toward that goal rather than a finished treatment.
Promising Science, but Not a Replacement for Dental Care Yet
Tooth regeneration research has made genuine progress in 2026, from cells that begin forming teeth in a lab to a drug moving through careful human trials in Japan. Neither path has produced a tooth ready for use in a patient’s mouth, and no treatment has a confirmed date for public availability.
If you are missing a tooth today, dental implants, bridges, and dentures remain the proven options, and waiting on experimental research is not a safe substitute for dental care. Gaps left by missing teeth can shift surrounding teeth, affect your bite, and make chewing harder the longer they go untreated. Talking with a dentist about your options now protects your oral health while researchers continue this work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it true that scientists have found a way to regrow lost teeth?
Scientists have made progress toward tooth regeneration, but no proven method exists yet to regrow a lost tooth in a patient. Researchers at King’s College London helped tooth cells begin forming in a lab, and a Japanese drug called TRG035 has completed early safety testing in humans, though neither has produced a working replacement tooth.
Have lab-grown teeth been implanted in people?
No lab-grown tooth has been implanted in a human patient. Researchers at King’s College London have grown early tooth structures in lab conditions and are still working out how to transfer that process into a patient’s mouth safely.
Has the USAG-1 drug regrown a human tooth?
No, TRG035 has not been shown to regrow a tooth in a human. Its first human trial tested safety in 30 adult men missing a molar, and the company developing it says the drug passed that safety stage, with efficacy testing planned for future trial phases.
Can minerals regrow a lost tooth?
Mineral-based treatments can help repair damaged tooth enamel, but they cannot regrow an entire missing tooth. Researchers have developed enamel-repair gels and living filling concepts, though these target cavities and enamel loss rather than replacing a tooth that has already fallen out.
Should I wait for tooth regrowth instead of getting an implant?
Dentists recommend against waiting for experimental treatments if you have a missing tooth now. No tooth regrowth treatment has a confirmed date for public availability, and delaying care can let surrounding teeth shift or your bite change, so established options like implants or dentures remain the safer choice today.
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