Following up on a 2021 study (published in Scientific Reports) that showed how medicine targeting the protein synthesized by the USAG-1 gene could impact the number of teeth grown in animals, the team has turned its attention to humans. They’ve announced a July 2024 clinical trial of the medicine, which they in turn hope to have ready for general use in 2030.

Dr Katsu Takahashi, head of the dentistry and oral surgery department at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital, has been working on the drug since his graduate student days, in the early nineties.

"The idea of growing new teeth is every dentist's dream,” he said to Japanese journal The Mainichi, adding that he was confident he’d be able “to make it happen."