The new drug that could regrow your lost teeth: Top experts reveal how a simple procedure could end your dental nightmare without having to rely on costly implants or dentures

But in tooth agenesis, faults in key genes disrupt the messages that tell these buds to form and keep growing into teeth. As a result, some never develop properly, while others stop growing before they appear as adult teeth. One in 20 people is born missing at least one adult tooth due to agenesis. Many people carry these, but no teeth grow from them. The team identified a protein, USAG-1, which acts like a brake on the spare buds growing teeth.