• Question: what experements do you do about teeth?

    Asked by 557tund44 to Gemma, Hussain, Robert, Ross on 6 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Ross King

      Ross King answered on 6 Nov 2015:

      I don’t really do any experiments to do with teeth. We’ve just started looking at what the immune system does inside our mouths in my lab, but this work is still very early-stages, so we’re not quite sure what it all means yet.

    • Photo: Hussain Jaffery

      Hussain Jaffery answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      I don’t look at teeth just now but I am surrounded by people who do! They tend to take a lot of X-rays of teeth to see how strong or weak they are. They use human teeth and also those of animals for comparison.

      Teeth are actually just bones, so I am interested in them generally. Some of the experiments I do could also involve teeth, but choose to focus on leg bones. Teeth also have blood vessels inside, and have bone cells such as osteoclasts and osteoblasts inside them and at their bases. Immune cells can find their way in their too! Teeth are alive! 😛

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