In today’s busy world, everybody is worried about the future health of their child. Even if you are feeding a good diet to your children and maintaining a health exam and vaccination regiment, some diseases are genetic. Fortunately, medical science has given us a gift within their cute little smiles: dental stem cells.
Both Dental Stem Cells and Mesenchymal Stem Cells can be harvested from milk teeth of children between the ages of 6 and 12 and banked for the future. Stem cell therapy is the new realm of regenerative medicine.
What are dental stem cells?
Dental pulp is the soft living tissue inside a tooth. Stem cells are found inside the dental pulp. Dental stem cells are adult stem cells found in both baby teeth and permanent teeth of adults. They have unique regenerative abilities, and offer new potential for treating various life threatening diseases. It is now known that adult stem cells taken from one area and grown into a completely different type of tissue. The most common stem cell therapy is bone marrow transplant.
What is dental stem cell preservation?
Dental stem cell preservation is the process of preserving stem cells from the teeth of an individual at several degrees below freezing point (cryopreservation). Using this method stem cells can be preserved and are accessible for use during one’s entire life span whenever an individual needs stem cell treatment. This eliminates the need to find a suitable donor and associated complication.
Which are the right teeth to preserve?
All healthy teeth contain dental pulp and are a potential source of stem cells. The removal of premolar and wisdom tooth for orthodontic purposes are also a good candidate for preservation. Although it is not known for certain how many cells will be needed for clinical use in the future, we recommend you to store more than one tooth, if possible.
What makes dental stem cells so unique?
Dental pulp stem cells can differentiate into nerve cells, muscle cells, insulin producing cells, etc. owing to their multipotency.
Dental pulp stem cells have demonstrated interactivity with biomaterials, making them ideal for tissue reconstruction.
Dental pulp stem cells are plentiful and easy to collect. Unlike harvesting bone marrow stem cells which require invasive surgery and cord blood stem cells which are available only at birth; dental pulp stem cells can be collected from baby and wisdom teeth which would otherwise be discarded
Dental pulp stem cells are non-controversial adult stem cells, unlike embryonic stem cells, the source of which involves ethical issues
Cord blood stem cells are primarily used today to treat blood diseases whereas dental pulp stem cells are to be used to treat hard and soft tissue diseases and injuries such as healing connective tissue, repairing dental tissues, neuronal tissue and bone tissue.
Potential Applications for Dental Stem Cells:
Alzheimer’s
Autism
Brain Damage
Cosmetic & Anti Ageing applications
Crohns Disease
Corneal Repair
Diabetes
Eye Diseases
Hair regeneration
Kidney Diseases
Liver Diseases
Multiple Sclerosis
Parkinsons Disease
Myocardial Infarction
Muscular Dystrophy
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Spinal Cord Injuries
Stroke
Skin Repair
Sports Injuries
Wound Healing
The Simple 5-step Procedure
Step 1: Enrollment
Enroll in dental stem cell bank. After paying the requisite fees, you will have to sign a contract authorising the stem cell banking company to maintain and preserve the processed vital dental pulp, rich in stem cells, and ensure its timely retrieval whenever required. You can choose your local Carrollton dentist for the tooth collection procedure for your convenience.
Step 2: Tooth Collection
Every clinic has a Dental Sampling Kit. The kit is designed to ensure safe transportation of the tooth, in ideal conditions, till such time as it reaches the laboratory. On the day of collection, the dentist will perform the procedure. The collected tooth will be placed in the dental sampling kit with your details marked on it. The paramedic will collect the blood sample and place it in the dental sampling kit. This dental sampling kit is then carefully packed by the paramedic and will ensure its courier to the laboratory.
Step 3: Isolation
The tooth will be transported to the laboratory. The dental pulp, containing the stem cells will be isolated by breaking open the tooth and processed as per the set protocols. The processed dental pulp would be tested for sterility and quality control (assessment of the viability of the stem cells).
Step 4: Cryopreservation
If the processed dental pulp passes the viability assessment, it will be stored cryogenically. The cryogenic treatment is a process in which the processed dental pulp, rich in stem cells, is preserved by gradual cooling. The processed dental pulp is frozen by keeping the levy at a temperature of -196 degree Celsius in liquid nitrogen. The processed vital dental pulp is frozen and stored, with appropriate tagging of your relevant details, using cryopreservation technology to maintain their viability for retrieval in future.
Step 5: Receipt of the sample certificate
After the sample is cryopreserved, a certificate of banking will be sent to you, which you must preserve for future records and use to retrieve it in the event that the stem cells are needed.
Be Ready for the Unexpected
Just as you purchase insurance, preserving dental stem cells is a way to protect your child’s future against the unknown and unexpected. Its temporary inconvenience and discomfort are worth it in the long run. As the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes said, “To be prepared is half the victory.”
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