In around five years the people of the world could have the option of a “third set of teeth,” formed from stem cells, if resources can be found for experiments, says Brazil's Silvio Dualibi, researcher with the Federal University of Sao Paulo. His experiments, conducted alongside his wife Mónica Dualibi and the U.S.-based Forsyth Institute, were able to develop teeth “with all their parts” in the abdomen of mice. Achieving the same in the jaw of the mice is the research phase to be finalized this year.

“The method is viable; it uses adult stem cells from the same recipient, avoiding rejection, and establishes a path to multiply and implant them,” Dualibi told Tierramérica.

An investment of a million dollars would allow them to move to human subjects, and with two million more they could create conditions for its widespread therapeutic use, which requires a laboratory free of any bacterial contamination, he said.

Twenty-six million Brazilians who are missing their own adult teeth stand to benefit from the research, he said.