Can an adult grow a new tooth?

Children have 20 baby teeth and adults have 32 permanent teeth. When a baby tooth falls out, a permanent tooth comes through beneath it, because that tooth has already formed inside the jaw. There is no third tooth developing beneath a permanent tooth and ready to come through. This is why a permanent tooth lost to decay, gum disease or a knock is not replaced by a new one on its own. This is a different question from whether tooth enamel can repair itself: there it is the surface of the tooth, here it is the tooth itself.

Almost all situations in adults that look like 'a new tooth coming through' are in fact teeth that formed earlier but appear late. The most common example is wisdom teeth: the NHS says these teeth usually start to come through in the teenage years or early twenties, but can cause problems at any age. Less often, extra teeth (hyperdontia) or a tooth that has stayed buried in the bone can move towards the mouth years later. A new tooth forming in the place of a lost one, however, is not one of these.

The story of the drug in the news starts with a protein: USAG-1. This protein puts the brakes on two signalling pathways (BMP and Wnt) needed for tooth development. In 2021, researchers at Kyoto University published in Science Advances that when they gave a single dose of an antibody blocking USAG-1 to a mouse model with congenital missing teeth, tooth formation was restored, and that in normal mice a fully formed new tooth developed. The ADA's news site reports that the same approach has also been tested in ferrets.

The mechanism is based not on creating a tooth from scratch, but on reactivating tooth buds whose development has stopped at some point. The developer, Toregem BioPharma, also describes the drug as an antibody that 'activates dormant tooth buds'. This distinction matters: with a congenitally missing tooth, the bud may have formed and then stopped. Whether such a bud exists in the place of a tooth lost in adulthood to decay or gum disease, however, is an unanswered question. A review published in 2026 stresses that this approach depends on suitable genetic and timing conditions.

The timeline of the human studies is as follows. The first safety study (Phase 1) began in 2024 at Kyoto University Hospital. The study was planned with 30 healthy men aged 30 to 64 who were missing at least one molar; it was randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled, and its main aim was to measure safety. The company announced that Phase 1 had been completed and safety confirmed, but the detailed results have not been made public. There are no published data on whether teeth grew in the participants of this study.

The next step is in children. On 17 August 2026, Toregem announced that the Japanese medicines agency PMDA had completed its review of the notification for a Phase 2a study in children with severe congenital partial tooth agenesis. The study is an open-label, multicentre dosing study without a control group, with a target of 24 patients. It will start after approval by the hospitals' ethics committees. The drug received 'orphan drug' status in Japan in 2025; this status does not mean approval.

So when might adults benefit? The date '2030', which often appears in the press, is the research team's goal; the trade press also says it should be read as a provisional target. In its own statement, Toregem mentions tooth loss due to decay and gum disease as an area 'targeted in the future'. In other words, for an adult who has lost teeth today there is neither a route to apply nor a date. Even if the drug succeeds, according to the development plan its first use is expected to be congenital tooth agenesis.

The idea of producing teeth from stem cells or in the laboratory is at an even earlier stage. Scientific reviews say that work on building a whole tooth in the laboratory has provided proof of concept in experimental models, but that its application in humans remains limited because of the tooth's complex shape and early genetic programme. If a clinic offers you 'a new tooth from stem cells' today, ask which approved study it is based on.

The following is a general framework; the decision is made with your dentist according to where the gap is, how many gaps there are and the state of the bone.

Following the news about the drug and planning for today do not rule each other out. The sequence below strengthens your hand whichever option becomes available in the future.

1. 1

   Get photographs and X-rays of the gaps

   Which teeth are missing, how long they have been missing and the state of the bone are the starting point for every decision. A panoramic X-ray shows the overall picture and, if needed, a CBCT scan shows the bone volume.

2. 2

   Look at the neighbouring and opposing teeth

   The ADA says the teeth around a missing tooth can shift and that there can be bone loss. A neighbouring tooth that is tipping, or a tooth over-erupting from the opposing jaw, shows that the cost of waiting has started.

3. 3

   Stop the cause of the loss

   If gum disease or decay is still active, further losses will follow. This is the job that has to be done first, whichever replacement method is chosen.

4. 4

   Discuss the options one by one

   A bridge is held by the neighbouring teeth, a denture is removable, and an implant is placed in the jawbone. The NHS lists all three as ways of replacing missing teeth; which one suits depends on where the gap is and how many gaps there are.

5. 5

   If one tooth is missing, start with your own dentist

   For a single gap, options such as a bridge, a bonded (adhesive) bridge or a single implant are best assessed by the dentist who has known your mouth for a long time.

6. 6

   If many teeth are missing, ask for a full-mouth plan

   If there is more than one gap or most of the teeth have been lost, the mouth needs to be planned as a whole rather than gap by gap. In cases like these, we complete fixed teeth on implants in 3 days, that is 72 hours; you can send your X-ray or CBCT scan with the assessment form.

Tooth regrowth is not an option today. The methods used to replace missing teeth and what sets them apart:

A missing tooth is not a static situation. The following are the changes that can be expected when a gap is left.

Tooth regrowth stories often circulate under headlines such as 'farewell to implants'. When assessing a story, look at these four questions.

1. What stage is it at?

   An animal study, Phase 1 (safety), Phase 2 (dose and first efficacy) and Phase 3 (broad efficacy) are very different things. As of 2026, TRG035 is preparing for Phase 2a.

2. Who is it being tested in?

   The next study is in children with severe congenital tooth agenesis. If a story tells an adult 'your teeth will grow back too', that is a generalisation that has not yet been proven.

3. Have results been published?

   The company announced that Phase 1 had been completed and safety confirmed; the detailed data have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

4. Whose target is the date?

   '2030' is a target attributed to the research team in the press, not an approval timetable. In drug development, timetables often slip.

The price is less a figure than a result of the state of the mouth. Waiting directly affects several of these factors:

Number and position of missing teeth

A single gap and the loss of most of a jaw require very different plans. If further losses happen during the wait, the plan grows too.

Bone volume

In the months after an extraction the bone thins. As volume decreases, some plans give rise to separate procedures such as bone grafting and extra waiting stages.

State of the neighbouring teeth

Teeth that have drifted or over-erupted may need correcting before replacement. This adds time and work to the plan.

Chosen method and material

The choice between a bridge, a denture and an implant, and the material of the restoration, are the main items that determine the total.