Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"If I had to get a new Ph.D. now, I'd get it in polymer engineering - the manipulation of matter."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Toothbud Transplant | ||
| Implanted teeth that mimic the dentition of other species. |
Feeling predacious, and you are bothered by people who look at the flat surfaces of molars and conclude that humans are basically vegetarians? Read on.
| The one who showed up at the loft door with a box of diskettes from the Finn was a soft-voiced boy called Angelo. His face was a simple graft grown on collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides, smooth and hideous. It was one of the nastiest pieces of elective surgery Case had ever seen. When Angelo smiled, revealing the razor-sharp canines of some large animal, Case was actually relieved. Toothbud transplants. He'd seen that before. |
| Technovelgy from Neuromancer,
by William Gibson. Published by Phantasia Press in 1984 Additional resources -
|
Transplanting a tooth to another person is not a new idea; in fact, slaves in ancient Egypt were sometimes forced to give their teeth to their pharaohs! In case you're wondering, it didn't work very well; problems of histocompatibility rendered the technique valueless.
However, autogenous tooth transplantation (moving a tooth from one position to another in your own mouth) works quite well in a variety of cases. For example, a person with a damaged molar is examined and found to have an unerrupted molar somewhere else. The damaged tooth is removed, the unerrupted molar is transplanted to the new spot.
No one has yet transplanted a tooth bud (also called a tooth germ); this is the developing tooth, the structure from which the adult tooth develops. See the Science Fiction in the News story Tooth Bud From Stem Cells Looms Large for an update on this topic.
Case's girlfriend and bodyguard Molly had an unusual form of modification - surgically inset glasses.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Neuromancer
More Ideas
and Technology by William Gibson
Tech news articles related to Neuromancer
Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
Toothbud Transplant-related
news articles:
- Tooth Bud From Stem Cells Looms Large
- Bioengineered Mouse Tooth Bud Successfully Implanted
- Teeth From Stem Cells
- Please, Please Let There Be Regenerated Teeth
- Drug To Regenerate Teeth In Humans
| Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea. |
| Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts |
| Pixel Watch 'Loss of Pulse Detection' And Philip K. Dick |
| ErythroMer Artificial Blood |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
