Need a new jaw? Let me see your back.
Wow, this is one of the most sci-fi things I’ve heard about in a long time. There’s a very interesting CNN article about a German man who had his lower jaw removed because of cancer. Doctors were able to grow a new jaw for him, in the man’s own back, from a combination of cow bone and the man’s own stem cells, formed inside a titanium mesh shell. When the jaw was ready, it was then transplanted from the man’s back into his face, where the jaw continued to successfully grow. Four weeks after the transplant, the man ate his first meal in nine years, a bratwurst sandwich. He now eat steaks, although he complains to his doctors that, due to his lack of teeth, he has to cut the steak into such small pieces that it’s cold by the time he gets to the end.
The only medicine this man has received is standard antibiotics to keep infection away. In a year, they plan on removing the titanium mesh and implanting teeth. Just incredible!