Toothpaste made with hair naturally repairs tooth enamel, scientists discover
Scientists at King's College London discovered keratin, a protein found in hair, skin and wool that is often used in reparative shampoos, can also help with teeth.
"We think this is a game changer, an industry-mover to introduce keratin as an actual product within our daily use to protect and heal your tooth enamel without even realising," Dr Sherif Elsharkawy, from King's Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, told Sky News.
"If you have a micro crack or a very small defect, it would heal itself without you even realising."
Many tooth problems come from damaged enamel, which does not regenerate - once it is lost, it is gone forever.
When the keratin mixes with the minerals in saliva, it produces a protective coating to mimic the structure and function of natural enamel.
Fluoride toothpastes and fluoride added to drinking water are currently relied on to slow enamel erosion but keratin-based treatments were found to stop it completely.
"Keratin offers a transformative alternative to current dental treatments," said Sara Gamea, PhD researcher at King's College London and first author of the study.
The treatment could be through a daily toothpaste or as a professionally applied gel, similar to nail varnish, in more extreme cases.
It could be made available for the public in two to three years, according to the scientists, and is seen as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional dental restoration.
The test products developed at King's College were made from wool, but in the future, Dr Elsharkawy said people could even collect their own hair to extract keratin.
However, for the moment, the King's team is "going with sheep's wool because it's highly abundant and it's a biowaste, it's sustainable and it's good for the farmers."
The toothpaste will look and feel just like standard fluoride paste, with a minty flavour and foaming texture but instead contain enough keratin for daily use.
"The aim is that we want this to be affordable and to reach the public," said Dr Elsharkawy.
"We don't think this is going to be a premium product - we would like to get everyone to be able to access it."
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So we need to do 120 compressions a minute, which works out as two compressions a second, and you can do this to the beat of 'staying alive'. You need to do this 30 times and then stop to give two breaths." Content cannot be displayed without consent Article continues below Explaining how to 'give breaths', Jade went on: "To give the breaths you need to keep the dog's tongue inside their mouth and clamp your fingers around the mouth creating an airlock, place their nose into your mouth and give two breaths after each breath make sure you check the rib cage is rising sufficiently to make sure they are getting the oxygen. Don't stop after you've given the breaths, straight back into compressions. You need to keep cycling between 30 compressions and giving two breaths." Her caption added: "Note if you have a small dog (under 7kg) or a cat, you can use this same technique but just use one hand for compressions instead of two." 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