Scientists grow pig teeth in rat intestines.

September 26, 2002 11:58 AM

Scientists grow pig teeth in rat intestines. Wait! Keep reading . . .
[This] experiment suggests the existence of dental stem cells, which could one day allow a person to replace a lost or missing tooth with an identical tooth grown from his or her own cells.
So can I stop flossing now?
posted by mikrophon (25 comments total)

Scientists grow pig teeth in rat intestines.

It's about goddamn time!
posted by ColdChef at 12:00 PM on September 26, 2002

And on this farm he had some pig teeth in rat intestines...
E-I-E-I-O....
posted by zanpo at 12:00 PM on September 26, 2002

What makes you think that anybody around here gives a rat's ass about dentistry?
posted by putzface_dickman at 12:09 PM on September 26, 2002

Very exciting - think about it, if the technology can become time and cost efficient enough, we could do away with not only dentures, crowns and bridges but also fillings and perhaps braces.

On the down side, we would have to put something that has been in a rat intestine in our mouths.

Think I'll go floss now.
posted by orange swan at 12:13 PM on September 26, 2002

"I've been practicing. Look, I made a pigeon-rat."
posted by joeadk at 12:13 PM on September 26, 2002

Questions...
Why didn't they grow pigs' teeth in pigs' intestines?
Or why didn't they grow rats' teeth in rats' intestines?
What's with the cross-species thing?
posted by MsVader at 12:20 PM on September 26, 2002

(with apologies to Godwin)

Gwint's Law: "As science progresses, the probability that a legitimate news headline is indistinguishable from an Onion headline approaches one."
posted by gwint at 12:22 PM on September 26, 2002

What I wanna know is, who is or are the persons who came up with this pig teeth/rat intestine connection? I'm serious, I can't even begin to imagine how they could pair these together. Can you imagine the pitch meeting to get a grant?

I'm so tempted call shennanagins on this one but I don't think I can. Good work, but whoa, pig's teeth out of a rat's ass. Amazing.

Upon preview: what ms.vader said.
posted by Tacodog at 12:23 PM on September 26, 2002

> Scientists grow pig teeth in rat intestines.
> So can I stop flossing now?

Just as soon as I stop vomiting.
posted by ChuqD at 12:28 PM on September 26, 2002

It's about goddamn time!

That's not what your Octaparrot thinks...
posted by Cyrano at 12:32 PM on September 26, 2002

Another example of Gwint's Law:

Cute Alpaca Stars as Screaming Sheep Dog

What's with the cross-species thing?

I'm guessing it's because pigs' teeth are similar to human teeth and rats are typically "most likely to be cut open in the name of progress."
posted by mikrophon at 12:38 PM on September 26, 2002

Scientists grow pig teeth in rat intestines.

That answers the age old question: Where can I get some pig's teeth and who gives a rat's ass?
posted by jonmc at 12:39 PM on September 26, 2002

Cute Alpaca Stars as Screaming Sheep Dog
"Male alpacas can develop so-called "fighting" incisor teeth designed to castrate their opponents. But Fysh said that only wethered, or castrated, alpacas, which do not tend to grow the teeth, were suitable for protecting sheep."

All of this, this is all way too much for me. I need to lie down now.
posted by Shane at 12:56 PM on September 26, 2002

Why don't they just harvest teeth from Teratomas and Dermoid Cysts
posted by putzface_dickman at 1:02 PM on September 26, 2002

I think this is quite creepier....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2283300.stm
posted by bivouac at 1:02 PM on September 26, 2002

My guess as to the why and how would be that pigs are probably the perfect combination of large enough, omnivorous teeth to compare to human potential, while being easy to breed and... ahem... expend during what I can only imagine to be hideous and freakish research. I think it's easier to go through a few dozen pigs than, say, African mountain gorillas. The pigs probably wouldn't put up as much of a fight, either.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 1:11 PM on September 26, 2002

Why don't they just harvest teeth from Teratomas and Dermoid Cysts

So you think that people will object to teeth from rat intestines, but not from quasi-humanoid cysts? Yeesh, yich, etc.
posted by mikrophon at 1:14 PM on September 26, 2002

Perhaps the rat intestine and the human mouth are like environments.... pleasant thought, that.
posted by orange swan at 1:23 PM on September 26, 2002

I for one welcome our new internal pig-toothed rat overlords...
posted by Windopaene at 1:34 PM on September 26, 2002

I think this is quite creepier....

Scary stuff, bivouac. I'd say that's fpp material.
posted by mikrophon at 1:42 PM on September 26, 2002

I for one welcome our new internal pig-toothed rat overlords...

shouldn't that be intestinal pig-toothed rat overlords?
posted by monique at 2:44 PM on September 26, 2002

Potaito, potahto, internal pig-toothed rat overlords, intestinal pig-toothed rat overlords, let's call the calling-off off.
posted by mikrophon at 2:54 PM on September 26, 2002

From the Dermoid Cyst site:

this is one surgical souvenir you probably don't want to display on the mantlepiece.

Yeah, as opposed to all those surgical souvenirs I do want to display on the mantle. Over here, you can see my diseased and infected appendix. Oh that? That is a piece of my grandfather's pancreas from when he had a biopsy.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:09 PM on September 26, 2002

only wethered, or castrated, alpacas, which do not tend to grow the teeth, were suitable for protecting sheep.

good to know, kinda like eunuch assassins! altho when i grow teeth in my intestines, i'd want them to be fighting incisor teeth :) cuz one of these days i'm gonna get beat up by a 300lb ovarian cyst and then there'll be some castratin' to do.
posted by kliuless at 3:15 PM on September 26, 2002

Well, it's no cure for cancer.
posted by chipr at 3:55 PM on September 26, 2002