Regrowing Lost Body Parts Getting Closer All the Time

[TheBORG] writes "There are two stories on Yahoo! News about regrowing lost body parts. One is about regrowing lost fingers & limbs and the other one is about regrowing teeth. The story about regrowing lost fingers and limbs talks about the experimental use of powdered pig bladder to regrow fingers and eventually lost limbs for soldiers and others in need from information that Pentagon-funded scientists hopefully learn from studying the salamander. The story about regrowing teeth talks about how Japanese scientists used primitive cells and injected them into a framework of collagen. Once grown to a certain point, scientists implanted the growths into mice where the teeth developed normally."

Pig parts?

[Apocalypse111]

I wonder how the Muslim and Jewish communities would react to this technology, as it involves materials taken from an animal that those religions traditionally view as "unclean". Would they reject it on those grounds?

Not as strange as you'd think.

[cfulmer]

Since at least the civil war, if patients have portions of their extremities cut off, doctors have been sewing the severed tip back into good flesh, so the extremity can regrow. An acquaintance lost about 1/2 an inch off the tip of his finger. The surgeon cut a slit in the palm of his hand, stuck the finger in there and sewed it back up. A few months later, presto! new finger.

New way to do sex change

[WindBourne]

I wonder if this will be used in the long haul for sex change operations/transgender. May be easier and cheaper to biologically force the change.

Regrowing teeth is nice, but...

[GoMMiX]

One thing a lot of people overlook when considering this as a future option is that as they allow their teeth to rot it's not just their teeth rotting.

Many people put off getting proper dental care until they've waited too late -- once infection starts setting in it doesn't just rot the tooth - it also rots the bone the tooth is rooted in.

So if you've got issues with your teeth and you're thinking this may be a future option - make sure you properly care for your teeth now or you may not be able to take advantage of these future options so easily.

Having a genetically engineered tooth surgically placed is one thing - it's a totally new story when your surgeon has to grind down the damaged bone in order to create a proper rooting surface (A common practice for people getting posts when they let their teeth go bad for a prolonged period).

I have also read of people prone to sinus infections losing root surfaces.

I've always had chalky teeth -- and for several years now I've been following the progress in this area. One of the first things I learned was how important it was to preserve the root surface. So don't put off proper care.