Popping Pills
With the Texas Longhorns defeating their longtime rival,
Oklahoma Sooners, in the Red River Showdown this past weekend, I’m going to
talk about another win for the state of Texas. Texas A&M College of
Dentistry just received a $1.7 million NIH grant to explore, at a molecular
level, the gene dentin sialophosphoprotein that causes dentinogenesis
imperfecta. Dentinogenesis imperfecta or DGI hampers tooth formation resulting
in discolored teeth that wear easily or fall out and treatment of this disease
is hard for dental providers. Maintenance of this condition can be solved
through restorative and prosthodontic procedures, but the downside is the hefty
price tag, closing into about $20,000 per patient. The solution? A pill that
can be taken orally or put into food or drinks that would prevent the onset of
DGI. Although this study is just beginning with understanding and cause of DGI,
that will be their ultimate goal. In this age, it is great to see how innovative
the world is becoming to provide accessible and affordable care to those that
can’t afford the traditional procedures.
https://dentistryinsider.tamhsc.edu/understanding-genetic-dental-diseases/
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ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic and I had no idea that Dentinogenesis Imperfecta existed. The amount of money that must be gathered for the prosthodontics procedure is expensive for any middle class worker (if insurance does not cover). So, with research exploring a potential alternative is ideal! As I had to do some background research on this disease, I came across an article that details how the use of elastodontic therapy is being used and researched to treat Dentiogenesis Imperfecta. Although the sample size is minimal, the age of the participant is important. The researches try to gear and design the study for a young patient and use "Occlus-o-Guide" (device) series. This allowed the patient to successful grow functional, permanent dentition. So far this has been a very successful study eliminating the need of a very invasive technique. In fact this technique is minimally invasive creating another alternative, but once again the study is specific (and possibly expensive). Another thing that I believe may be super interesting to research is to see if any CRISPR-cas9 research has been done to edit the gene that is responsible for this disease. However, with the current price point to treat this disease it challenges many bioethical values. For example, are we really doing the best for the entire population with the price tag on the current treatment? This research grant provides a step forward to possibly creating an affordable treatment for the entire population, but only time will tell. Here is the article if you are interested in reading about the minimally invasive device to help Dentinogenesis Imperfecta.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28736605
This article was very interesting, I didn't know anything about dentinogenesis imperfecta or any inherited dental diseases. The research the PI is conducting sounds very interesting as well using small molecules to eliminate a mutated protein, coming from the endoplasmic reticulum, called 4-phenylbutyrate or (4-PBA). This will be given to patients who have the disorder in pill form, and is stated their goal is to make it a short-term treatment rather than life-long. I wonder on what basis they can make that statement, biologically? Also, I wonder if they understand the mutated protein that codes for this disease, if they can test the current or future progeny of current patients and prescribe this pill to eliminate the onset of dentinogenesis imperfecta?
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