Effects of bleomycin on tooth eruption: a novel potential application

There are many kinds of potentially undesirable teeth. At present, surgical extraction is the most efficient way to eliminate these teeth, but it's very complex and invasive. In this study, we investigated the effects of bleomycin (BLM) on dental follicle and tooth eruption as a potential conservative therapy for undesirable teeth. Our data showed that local injection of 0.2 U/kg BLM had no significant effects on tooth eruption compared to the control group in Wistar rats. With higher dose of BLM (0.5 or 2 U/kg), the eruption of treated teeth was interrupted and their root formation failed until 4 weeks postnatal without significant systemic toxicity. Additionally, those effects were not depending on the toxicity of overdose evidenced by TUNEL assay. In summary, injecting BLM into dental follicle at an early stage could interrupt tooth development and eruption, and may prevent the potentially clinical problems resulting from undesirable teeth instead of surgical removal.