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The latest breakthrough in dental care reveals that the human teeth can be encouraged to "self-heal" with the help of a chemical that can encourage the teeth cells to heal small holes in the tooth. The chemical is also recorded to produce a complete, effective and natural repair to a damaged tooth.

BBC reports that a newly discovered drug, Tideglusib can heighten the activity of stem cells in the dental pulp making it capable of repairing holes in the tooth. The experiment was conducted in the teeth of mice includes a drug-soak sponge places in the 0.13mm hole of the tooth of the mice. A protective coating is then applied over the top of the hole.

After the sponge soaked in Tideglusib broke down, the hole was replaced by dentine and literally healed the tooth.

The regenerative approach in repairing the teeth is still being continuously tested and will not be commercially available for the next three to five years. The long-term effect of the new treatment is yet to be determined. The field of regenerative medicine is also being constantly clouded by the concerns about cancer due to its general process that encourages cells to divide rapidly to be able to repair damaged tooth.

The tooth-rebuilding technique is being developed at the King's College London that removes the usual process of having to drill tooth decay from the teeth and filling it with materials like amalgam and composite resin as cited by The Guardian.

The new treatment is called Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation (EAER) with the id of the drug called Tideglusib. However, Tideglusib is also a drug that alters chemical signals in the cells, called Wnt. This signal has been implicated in some tumors, creating doubts about the long-term effects of the treatment. The drug is also being currently trialed to see its potential in dementia therapy.

This treatment can be considered as a device to provide a kinder approach to patients in repairing their teeth and a cost-effective option compared to today's current dental treatments. However, due to the unknown potential effects of the drug in the long-run, further test are still being conducted for the said dental breakthrough.