"We could transplant the young tooth cells at the location of the missing tooth and let them grow inside mouth," Zhang said to the BBC. "Alternatively, we could create the whole tooth in the lab before placing it in the patient's mouth."
The researchers warned getting a lab tooth into a patient's mouth could take years.
"Will it come in my lifetime of practice? Possibly," Saiorse O'Toole, a clinical lecturer in prosthodontics at King's College, told the BBC. "In my children's dental lifetimes? Maybe. But in my children's children's lifetimes, hopefully."