Drug to Regrow Teeth: How Close Is TRG035 to Becoming Reality?

The closest thing to a drug to regrow teeth today is TRG035, an experimental antibody from Japan designed to wake up dormant tooth buds by blocking a protein called USAG-1. It is still in clinical trials, so it is not yet available to patients. It finished its first safety trial in adults without serious adverse events, and a small early-stage study (Phase IIa) to test the dose in children born without several teeth is now being prepared.

The developer's 2030 launch target is provisional, and the drug has not yet been shown to regrow a tooth in a human.

What Is the Drug to Regrow Teeth?

The drug to regrow teeth is TRG035, an experimental anti-USAG-1 antibody developed by the Japanese biotech company Toregem BioPharma. It grew out of research led by Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka. You may have seen it described as a new drug that regrows teeth; that is the aim, although it has not yet been shown to work in people. Instead of replacing a lost tooth with an artificial one, it aims to make the body grow a natural tooth from buds that never developed.

This makes it a tooth regrowth treatment: a biological approach that regenerates tooth tissue rather than replacing it with a prosthetic. Dental implants work differently, placing a titanium root in the jaw to hold a crown. A regrowth drug would instead switch the body's own tooth-forming programme back on.

If you have been searching for a pill that regrows teeth, it helps to know that TRG035 does not come as a tablet. In its first human trial, volunteers received it once, directly into a vein, so it is much closer to a teeth regrowth injection, or shot, than any pill to grow teeth you could swallow. For now, the only people who have received it took part in that trial. It has not been approved anywhere yet, which also means that a tooth regrowing drug or pill you might come across for sale online is not TRG035, however it is marketed.

How Does Tooth Regrowth Medicine Work?

Tooth regrowth medicine works by switching off a natural brake on tooth development, which is the job any medicine to regrow teeth would have to do. Humans grow two sets of teeth, baby and adult, but researchers believe most of us still carry the buds of a third set. Those buds stay dormant because a protein called USAG-1 stops them from developing.

TRG035 is designed to release that brake:

This is different from how the old idea of tooth regeneration was often described. TRG035 does not repair a decayed tooth or regrow enamel on an existing one. It aims to regenerate a tooth from scratch, which is why it is tested first in people born without teeth rather than people with cavities.

The work began in 2005. In animal studies that Kyoto University reported in 2021, a single dose of the antibody led to teeth forming in mice bred to be born without some teeth, and to an extra tooth forming in ferrets. Later work showed similar results in dogs. In all of these cases, the teeth were ones that had never developed, not teeth that had been lost. Whether the same happens in humans is what the clinical trials now need to show.

What Is USAG-1?

USAG-1 (uterine sensitization-associated gene-1, also called SOSTDC1) is a protein that helps control how many teeth the body forms. When it is active, extra tooth buds stay asleep. In mice bred without it, extra teeth appear, which is what first pointed researchers to it as a target.

There is no known natural way to block the USAG-1 protein. No food, supplement, herb or home remedy has been shown to switch it off. Blocking it currently requires a purpose-built antibody like TRG035, and only inside a clinical trial.

What Has Happened in the Clinical Trials?

TRG035 has passed its first human safety trial and is now preparing for its second. In 2024 it became the world's first drug to regrow teeth to enter clinical trials, and it remains the tooth regeneration drug furthest along in testing. So far, every step has focused on safety and dosing, so nobody has yet shown that it grows a tooth in a person. The key moments so far:

So, did the Japanese find a way to regrow teeth? Not yet. In animals, the drug helped teeth that had never formed to develop. In people, it has so far only been tested for safety.

What Other Tooth Regrowth Treatments Are Being Studied?

TRG035 is the only drug to regrow teeth that has reached human trials, but researchers are testing other ways to rebuild teeth. All of them are earlier in development, and none can yet replace a missing tooth in people:

• Dental pulp stem cell therapy: this is the stem cell approach closest to the clinic. In a small 2017 study in Japan, five patients who needed a root canal had stem cells from one of their own discarded teeth placed inside the cleaned-out tooth, and living pulp grew back. It renews the inside of an existing tooth rather than replacing a lost one.
• Bioengineered (lab-grown) tooth germs: scientists combine tooth-forming cells into a tiny "seed" of a tooth and implant it in the jaw. In 2009, these grew into working teeth with nerves in mice. Those teeth were grown from embryonic cells, though, and finding a safe source of such cells in adults is one reason this is much harder in people.
• Wnt signalling molecules: at King's College London, tideglusib, a drug first tested for Alzheimer's disease, helped teeth in mice repair large cavities with their own dentine. Small molecules that act on the Wnt signalling pathway like this could one day replace some fillings, but they repair teeth rather than grow new ones.

Can Adults Regrow Teeth Today?

Is it possible to regrow lost teeth? Not yet. If you lose an adult tooth through decay, gum disease or an accident, it will not grow back, and no treatment available today can make it regrow. TRG035 is not being tested on this kind of tooth loss either. Its trials focus on people born without teeth, and treating teeth lost later in life remains a long-term goal for its developer.

So what teeth grow back? Only baby teeth, and only once. Each baby tooth is replaced by a permanent one, and after that the body has no natural replacement waiting.

That leaves a lot of people with gaps. Worldwide, around 7% of adults aged 20 and over have lost all of their natural teeth, rising to 23% among people over 60, according to the World Health Organization. In the UK, the government estimates that 5% of adults over 16 have no natural teeth at all.

What your body can do is repair the very earliest damage to enamel. Minerals from saliva, fluoride and some toothpastes can strengthen weakened enamel before a cavity forms, a process known as remineralizing teeth. It cannot fill a cavity, though, and it cannot grow a new tooth.

Can Natural Methods Regrow Teeth?

No. Despite many claims online, no diet, supplement, oil, herb or home remedy has been shown to regrow a lost tooth. If you have been searching for ways to regrow teeth naturally, here is what the popular methods can and cannot do:

• Oil pulling: swishing coconut or sesame oil around the mouth, known as oil pulling, may reduce bacteria, but it does not regrow teeth or reverse cavities.
• Fluoride and hydroxyapatite toothpaste: both can help remineralise early enamel damage. Neither can rebuild a broken or missing tooth.
• Vitamin D, vitamin K2 and calcium: these support healthy teeth and jawbone, but they do not regenerate lost tooth structure.
• Folk remedies: eggshell powder, comfrey, salt and similar remedies have no clinical evidence behind them for regrowing teeth.

The natural habits that genuinely help are the ones that protect the teeth you still have: brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, cutting back on sugary and acidic food and drink, drinking enough water so saliva can do its job, and seeing a dentist regularly. They will not bring back a lost tooth, but they make it much less likely that you will lose another.

For a fuller routine, including fluoride varnish at the dentist, xylitol and foods rich in calcium and phosphate, see our guide to stronger teeth.

Who Could Be a Candidate for Tooth Regrowth Treatment?

The first people expected to benefit are children born without many of their teeth. Implants and dentures are hard to use while a child's jaw is still growing, so this group has the fewest good options, and that is why TRG035 is being developed for them first. Here is how the likely candidates line up:

• Oligodontia: being born missing six or more permanent teeth. In Japan, TRG035 has orphan drug status for the severe form of this condition. This is a label given to medicines for rare diseases that brings development support, such as tax incentives and grants, but it is not an approval. The next trial will include children with this condition.
• Anodontia: the rare condition of being born with no teeth at all, often linked to genetic syndromes such as ectodermal dysplasia.
• Hypodontia: being born missing one to five permanent teeth. It is far more common, but it is not the first target.
• Adults who have lost teeth to decay, gum disease or injury: the developer hopes to treat this group eventually, but no trial for this kind of tooth loss has been announced.

The men in the first trial were healthy volunteers helping to test safety, not patients being treated. Final eligibility rules, such as age limits, general health or how much jawbone is needed, will only be set once later trials report.

For an adult with a missing tooth today, the realistic option is dental implants, which suit most adults with healthy gums and enough jawbone. Even when the bone or gums are not ready at first, most patients can become suitable after a bone graft or gum treatment, one of several lesser-known facts about dental implants.

What Are the Risks and Limitations?

Because TRG035 has only been tested for safety in a small group of healthy men, much about its risks is still unknown. Toregem reports that the first trial found no serious adverse events, but the full results have not been published, so independent experts have not yet been able to review them. These are the main open questions:

• Side effects: like other antibody medicines, TRG035 could trigger immune reactions. The first trial checked whether the body makes antibodies against the drug, which is one way such problems can show up.
• Long-term safety: nobody knows yet how the body responds months or years after a dose, especially in children, who will be the first patients.
• Where and how teeth grow: the drug travels through the bloodstream rather than acting on one spot. Researchers still need to show that a new tooth appears in the right place, at the right size and shape, and fits the bite.
• Advanced bone loss: where the jawbone has shrunk a lot, there may not be enough support for a new tooth to anchor, although this has not been studied yet.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding: pregnant or breastfeeding women are likely to be excluded at first, as is usual with new medicines whose effects on a baby are unknown. The first trial included only men.
• The right dose: working this out is the purpose of the next trial in children. Too little may do nothing, and too much may cause unwanted effects.
• Ethical questions: there are open questions about fair access to what is likely to be an expensive treatment, and about whether it should ever be used for cosmetic rather than medical reasons.

None of this means the drug is unsafe. It means the evidence needed to call it safe and effective does not exist yet, and providing that evidence is exactly what the coming trials are for.

When Will Tooth Regrowth Drugs Be Available?

If everything goes to plan, the first tooth regrowth drug could become available around 2030. That is Toregem's target, but it is a goal rather than a promise. TRG035 still has to show that it works in the next trial in children, pass larger trials and win approval from regulators, and delays at any of those steps are common. It is safest to think of 2030 as the earliest realistic date, not a launch date.

There are signs that development is moving forward. In late 2025, Toregem held early talks with the US Food and Drug Administration about how future American trials could be run. In May 2026, it raised about US$5.3 million for its next trials, bringing its total funding to more than US$29 million.

Even after approval, availability is likely to come in stages. Toregem's first goal is approval in Japan, with other countries following on their own timelines, and the first approved use would be for people born without teeth. Treating adults who have lost teeth would need separate trials and would come later. For now, TRG035 is not available in any country, including the US, the UK, India or Turkey, other than to people taking part in a trial.

Products that repair enamel may arrive sooner. Eterna Regeneratives, a spin-out from King's College London, hopes to add its keratin-based enamel repair material to toothpaste and other products by early 2027. So far it has only been tested in the lab, and it is designed to repair enamel, not to regrow a lost tooth.

How Much Will Tooth Regrowth Treatment Cost?

No price has been set for TRG035, the anti-USAG-1 antibody, and Toregem has not said what the treatment might cost. Any tooth regrowing drug price you see online is a guess. It is simply too early to know, because the dose, the number of treatments and even which patients will qualify are still being worked out.

What we can say is that new antibody medicines are often expensive when they first launch, and early use is likely to be limited to children with rare conditions. Prices could change as the treatment becomes more widely used, but nobody can predict that yet.

Will Tooth Regrowth Replace Dental Implants?

Not any time soon, and perhaps never completely. Even the researchers behind TRG035 see it as an addition rather than a replacement: Katsu Takahashi has said he hopes it will become "a third choice alongside dentures and implants". Here is how the options compare today:

Option	Available today?	Cost at Vera Smile	How long it lasts	Invasiveness	Best for
Tooth regrowth drug (TRG035)	No, trials only	No price set	Unknown	A single dose into a vein (in trials)	Children born without many teeth (first target)
Single dental implant	Yes	€450–€800	About 96% still in place after 10 years	Surgical	One missing tooth with enough jawbone
All-on-4 full arch	Yes	€4,000–€6,000 per jaw	About 97% of implants still in place after 15 years	Surgical	A full arch of missing teeth
Dental bridge	Yes	€400–€800 per bridge	5–15 years on average	Moderate: neighbouring teeth are reshaped	One or a few missing teeth next to healthy teeth
Removable denture	Yes	€300–€800 per arch	7–10 years on average	Non-surgical	Several or all teeth missing, without surgery

If tooth regrowth does work, its appeal is easy to see. A regrown tooth would be your own, with natural feeling and bite feedback, and no metal or replacement parts. That could shift dentistry from replacing what is missing to regenerating it.

Our dentists share that excitement, with a note of caution. As Dt. Mümin Manassra of Vera Smile puts it:

This could redefine how we approach tooth loss. But we need to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risks before making it available to patients. While the science is compelling, we're far from understanding the full implications of this treatment. It's an exciting step, but not the final one.

But it will suit specific cases first, it is still years from patients, and implants have decades of refinement behind them. For most adults with a missing tooth, the real decision today is between implants and bridges, and reviewing dental implant cost in Turkey is a practical first step. Choosing one now does not rule out new treatments in the future.

What Should You Do About a Missing Tooth Now

It is tempting to wait for a drug that might regrow your tooth, but for most adults that could mean waiting a decade or more for a treatment that may never be approved for their kind of tooth loss. In the meantime, a gap does not stay the same. The jawbone under it begins to shrink, neighbouring teeth can drift into the space, and your bite can change. Here is what makes sense today:

• See a dentist sooner rather than later: a quick check shows how the gap is affecting the teeth and bone around it.
• Protect your jawbone: an implant works like a tooth root and helps keep the bone in place. If a gap has been open for a long time, a bone graft may be needed first. In the year after a tooth is removed, the jawbone at that spot can lose around half of its width, most of it in the first three months.
• Treat gum disease first: active gum disease keeps eating away at bone, which affects every treatment option, now or in the future.
• Save natural teeth where you can: a root canal and a crown can often keep a tooth that might otherwise be extracted.
• If you or your child were born missing teeth: keep an eye on trial news. For now, the trials are running only in Japan.
• Keep your dental records: ask for copies of your X-rays and treatment history. If new treatments become available, they will help a dentist see what has changed and which options suit you.

Why Vera Smile for Tooth Replacement?

Tooth regrowth may be part of the future, but proven ways to replace a missing tooth are available now. At Vera Smile in Istanbul, we help patients from around the world restore their smiles with treatments backed by decades of clinical experience:

If you are considering dental implants in Turkey, our dentists can review your photos and X-rays and explain which option suits your case, whether that is an implant, a bridge or a denture.

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