A New Gel Claims to Regrow Enamel. Here's What's Real.
Clinically reviewed by Dr. Abinaash Kaur, DDS, RCDSO, on 2026-10-19. Dr. Kaur is a general dentist in Toronto (Bloor West Village) registered with the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.
The enamel regrowth gel in the headlines is real science, but it hasn't been tested on a single tooth inside a living mouth, and you can't buy it. It grew a thin layer of enamel-like mineral on pulled human teeth in a lab, and its first small study in people has only just started.
The story started showing up on patients' phones this summer. The question that comes with it is always some version of "should I stop worrying about my thin enamel and wait for this?"
No. I've practised in Bloor West Village for about 25 years, and the paper behind the gel is one of the more interesting enamel studies I've read in that time. It's also a long way from your mouth. Here's what the team did, what they didn't do, and what's being tested right now.
What did the Nottingham team build?
A protein coating that tells minerals where to grow.
Enamel forms in childhood on a scaffold of proteins, and that scaffold is gone by the time a tooth comes in. The research team engineered a protein matrix "that imitates the structure and function of the enamel-developing matrix" (Nature Communications via PubMed). The proteins are called elastin-like recombinamers, lab-made proteins designed to fold and link up in a set pattern (Nature Communications).
Painted onto a tooth, the coating traps calcium and phosphate from saliva and guides them into crystals (ClinicalTrials.gov). Those crystals line up with the crystals already in the tooth underneath, so the new mineral continues the old pattern instead of sitting on top like paint (Nature Communications).
The paper was published in Nature Communications in November 2025, from a group at the University of Nottingham with collaborators including King's College London (PubMed).
Did it regrow enamel?
Most people read "regrow enamel" and picture a worn or chipped tooth filling itself back in. Here's what happened in the study.
The teeth were human molars "extracted for clinical reasons," and every test ran on those teeth or slices of them outside the body (Nature Communications full text via PMC). The authors describe growing mineral layers "up to 10 μm thick" on teeth with different levels of erosion, including teeth worn down to bare dentine (PMC).
Ten micrometres is a hundredth of a millimetre.
For scale, the same paper says the outermost layer of adult enamel alone is about 16 to 45 micrometres thick (PMC). So the regrown layer is thinner than the thin top skin of a healthy tooth. That's still impressive work, and the new layer copied the fine structure of real enamel well (PubMed). It isn't a way to rebuild a chip, a cavity, or a tooth ground down from years of clenching.
The durability tests were serious. The team brushed treated enamel for 60 minutes with an electric toothbrush to simulate about a year of brushing (PMC). They also ran a chewing machine for two weeks to mimic about 3.5 years of chewing (PMC). After the chewing test, the regrown enamel wore about the same as natural enamel (PMC).
The authors are clear about the limit. They write that their tests "do not fully recreate the complexity of the in vivo oral environment," and that confirming real enamel regeneration "would require in vivo validation" (PMC). In vivo means inside a living body. That hasn't happened yet.
Is it something you'd brush on at home?
No. Most headlines never mentioned how the gel gets onto a tooth.
To make the method practical, the team followed steps "commonly used in dental practices" (PMC). The tooth gets polished, etched with 37% phosphoric acid gel for 30 seconds, rinsed and air-dried. Then the coating goes on and sets in 3 to 4 minutes (PMC). The company's own trial listing calls its product "a professional dental product" (ClinicalTrials.gov).
Have no fear about the acid part. Etching is routine; it's the same quick step we use before bonding a white filling to a tooth.
So if the gel ever reaches patients, picture something your dentist paints on, like a fluoride varnish. Think of silver diamine fluoride, which is also brushed on in the chair. It won't be a tube on a drugstore shelf.
Is the gel fluoride-free?
The pitch is that it could replace fluoride. The company's registry entry says the gel "could take the place of fluoride treatments" (ClinicalTrials.gov).
Here's a detail from the methods section. In the main lab experiments, the coated teeth sat in a mineral solution made with hydroxyapatite powder and sodium fluoride (PMC). The crystals that grew were fluorapatite, and when the new layer held up better against acid than natural enamel, the authors credited "the presence of fluorine" (PMC).
To be fair to the team, they also soaked coated enamel in real saliva from three donors for two weeks, and it still rebuilt enamel structure and hardness (PMC). The gel may work without added fluoride. Just know that the acid-resistance result came from a fluoride bath.
What's being tested in people right now?
The first study in people is registered and recruiting. It's run by Mintech Bio, the company set up to bring the gel to market (PubMed). The study site is Guy's and St Thomas' in London, with King's College London (ClinicalTrials.gov).
The registered details:
- About 20 people aged 12 to 60, enrolled within days of having braces removed (ClinicalTrials.gov)
- Each person needs chalky white spots, early decay with no hole, on both sides of the mouth (ClinicalTrials.gov)
- The gel, called Epinamel, goes on one side, and an existing product, Curodont Repair, goes on the other (ClinicalTrials.gov)
- Nobody is blinded, and the main result is the change in spot size after six weeks (ClinicalTrials.gov)
- It started on July 6, 2026, with completion estimated for January 2027 (ClinicalTrials.gov)
White spots after braces are a smart place to start. A 2024 review notes they're showing up more often, "particularly in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment" (BMC Oral Health via PubMed). If you're wondering what those spots are, our post on whether a cavity can heal itself explains the white-spot stage and why it's still reversible.
Has anyone tried a mineral scaffold gel before?
Yes, and the history is useful.
The comparison product in that trial, Curodont Repair, is built on a self-assembling peptide called P11-4 (Frontiers in Dental Medicine via PubMed). It's another way of guiding minerals back into enamel, and it did well in lab studies (Biomaterial Investigations in Dentistry via PubMed). A 2023 review pooled the human trials. Of the eight it included, four were rated "high risk" of bias, and the authors concluded "we are uncertain" whether it improves remineralization (European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry via PubMed).
A 2026 review of newer non-fluoride materials landed in the same spot. It found benefits "predominantly in laboratory studies, with limited supporting clinical evidence" (Biomaterial Investigations in Dentistry via PubMed).
What gives? A tooth slice in a dish doesn't have plaque, sugar, a tongue, or a person who forgets to come back for the follow-up. Lab wins shrink in the mouth all the time. That's no knock on the Nottingham gel. It's the hurdle every scaffold product has to clear.
Who's behind the research?
Worth one sentence, because it's in the paper itself. The lead author and the senior author "are two of the co-founders and hold equity in Mintech-Bio Ltd," the company created to turn the work into a product (PubMed).
That's normal for university spin-outs, and they disclosed it properly. It's the same question I asked in our post on arginine toothpaste versus fluoride: who ran the study, and has anyone independent repeated it? For the gel, nobody has yet.
How is it different from the tooth regrowth drug?
Completely different idea. The drug in our post on whether we'll grow new teeth is an antibody aimed at people born missing teeth. It tries to wake up a tooth bud that never developed.
The gel doesn't grow a tooth or wake up any cells. Natural enamel can't regenerate, and the paper's own summary says so: "enamel does not possess the ability to regenerate" (PubMed). The gel works around that by growing mineral on the surface, without living cells.
The authors also name its targets: "enamel erosion and dental hypersensitivity" (PubMed). Erosion is acid wear, and hypersensitivity means sensitive teeth. Neither one is a cavity, and a cavity with a hole in it still needs a filling.
What should you do about thin or sensitive enamel today?
Pretty much what you'd do if the gel didn't exist, because for you, right now, it doesn't.
Fluoride remains the tool with the track record. The Canadian Dental Association says "more than 50 years of extensive research demonstrates that fluoride is safe and effective" against decay (Canadian Dental Association). It also recommends asking your dentist about professional treatments such as fluoride varnish (CDA). Health Canada lists strengthening tooth enamel among fluoride's proven benefits, and notes that varnish "should be painted on your teeth by someone who has been trained to do so" (Health Canada).
Try this:
- Brush twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste
- Cut back on how often you sip acidic drinks; our post on energy drinks and teen teeth shows how fast that adds up
- If you're curious about mineral toothpastes, our hydroxyapatite vs fluoride toothpaste comparison covers what the trials found
- New twinges with cold drinks? Our post on teeth that are suddenly sensitive walks through the usual causes
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there a gel that regrows tooth enamel? Not one you can get. A protein gel from a Nottingham-led team grew enamel-like layers "up to 10 μm thick" on extracted human teeth in the lab (Nature Communications via PMC). The authors say confirming real regeneration "would require in vivo validation," meaning testing in living people (PMC).
Q: When will the enamel regrowth gel be available? No approval date exists. The first study in people, a pilot of about 20 patients after braces removal, started in July 2026 and is estimated to finish in January 2027 (ClinicalTrials.gov). A pilot is an early step, and larger trials would normally follow before any regulator signs off.
Q: Can enamel grow back on its own? No. The Nottingham paper itself states that "enamel does not possess the ability to regenerate" (PubMed). Early white-spot damage can take minerals back in with fluoride and good home care, which is different from regrowing lost enamel. Our post on whether a cavity can heal itself explains where that line sits.
Q: Will the gel fix a cavity? Nothing published suggests it would. The authors name enamel erosion and sensitive teeth as the targets (PubMed), and the human pilot only enrols people whose white spots have no hole (ClinicalTrials.gov). A cavity with a hole still needs a filling.
Q: Is the new gel better than fluoride? Nobody knows yet, because it hasn't been compared with fluoride in people. A similar peptide product, P11-4, looked strong in the lab, yet a review of its human trials concluded "we are uncertain" whether it helps (European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry via PubMed). Fluoride has more than 50 years of research behind it, according to the Canadian Dental Association (CDA).
Reviewed by Dr. Abinaash Kaur, B.Sc., DDS (University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry), who has practised general and family dentistry in Bloor West Village for about 25 years. This article is general oral health information about dental research, not a diagnosis, medical advice, or a substitute for an examination.
Worried your enamel is wearing thin, or tired of teeth that zing with every cold drink? Bring the headline and your questions to your next visit. We're at 750 Annette Street in Bloor West Village, serving the Junction, High Park, and Baby Point. Book an exam with The Village Dentist and we'll show you what we see and what we can do about it today.
