This is WAY outside anything I really understand, but unfortunately I would guess not. There's an epithelial layer (the dental lamina) over the bone that generates teeth. I would guess that the peg is bonded to the bone itself (via hydroxyapatite) instead of any dental layers. Unless that layer can be regrown somehow, I don't think this would grow back your teeth.
I don't have any implants, but I do have several missing teeth. I had something like 14 teeth extracted, including all of my canines twice- I grew a third set. I think that probably wasn't as bad as getting implants, although I can still remember the feeling in my stomach every time they told me I needed more pulled. My mouth is just too small to fit more teeth so I don't think I'll ever have a full set either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What's probably more interesting is having the option of regrowing a tooth instead of, say, a root canal. Or just to replace teeth as they're worn down naturally.
Thanks for sharing your story.
I am not actually sure if they can be replaced if needed. Maybe they could hold a 5G antennae or something. I'll ask my dentist next time I visit.
Did you watch Reading Rainbow by any chance? That was a meaningful show to me in these times. Eventually my biggest fandom went to Brain Jacques and the Redwall series.
My son has started to notice that all of Dahl's heroes have terrible family lives in some way, and he's questioned why it's necessary. I think he starts to worry that it might happen to him. I've tried to explain to him that, because the stories aren't real (which is a concept he's comfortable with already), it's a useful shortcut for a writer to make us sympathetic to them. I think he gets it.
If the gum starts receding from a tooth or an infection occurs, there are still barriers between it and the bone, and the body can repair some damage. Implants pass the point of no return far more quickly. If you get an infection around the implant, the bone around the implant will start breaking down and the implant will reject.
This was a congenital condition as described in this article.
I was fortunate enough to have access to implants, which I did not appreciate at the age of 13 and 14.
The procedure was invasive. It required drilling out my baby teeth, (which did not fall out), and introducing a single peg which was fused into my lower jaw bone.
There was a long time while my gum had to heal over this area which included stitches at first.
I was given something called a flipper, which is like a retainer with two fake teeth on it. I wore this for what felt like an eternity.
I recall one of the hardest parts about this was that I had become interested in girls and that I wanted to kiss my friend and this flipper was in the way of this.
I was lucky that my friend Erin was accommodating and did not make me feel weird about both having to take out this dentures thing and that I was missing teeth while we made out.
We are still friends so it must not have been too weird.
Eventually, a mono tooth was made, (it’s probably not called this but that sounds fun) which screwed into the peg and had two “adult” sized teeth on the top.
Over 25 year later, the teeth look real.
The color was a good guess and unless you know to stare and look you do not notice them.
I have yet to have a person identify them and I’ve had to tell partners, as they did not notice even after being close with me.
I also do not notice them and have not had any real problems with them.
That said, it would have been great to not have gone through all of that as an early teenager, though I came out just fine.
Also, I can only imagine the fees that must have been associated with all of the work.
I wonder if I could grow the teeth back now or if the fused peg has ruined the chances.