wisdom teeth stem cells

Auctioning Off Wisdom Teeth: How Much Money Can you Make?

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It has been discussed before on this site how in some cases it may be beneficial to save your wisdom teeth if you have any of them extracted. Many companies offer the option to have your wisdom teeth stem cells cryogenically preserved for a fee. This has been discussed in the post Storing Wisdom Teeth Stem Cells. Companies such as Stemodontics have technicians crack open a tooth, remove the pulp, and then remove the stem cells. Patients are willing to pay such companies a fee based on the hope that these stem cells one day can be used to to help with dental and bone repair although this is not currently a process that can be utilized. However there may also be a different reason to save wisdom teeth: just plain money. A wisdom tooth of Edward VIII, the former late … Read more

Dental Stem Cells Generate New Bone Tissue

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An interesting article presented in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News discusses dental stem cells and their role of creating new bone tissue in humans. This article is based off of the procedure and results in a recent paper titled “Human Mandible Bone Defect Repair by Grafting of Dental Pulp Stem/Progenitor Cells and Collagen Sponge Biocomplexes” which has been conducted by Gianpoalo Paccio and his partners in Naples, Italy. (Europen Cells and Materials Vol.18, 2009, pages 75-83). Seventeen patients had their wisdom teeth extracted and the dental pulp stem/progenitor cells known as DPCs were eventually used to fill the injury site left by the wisdom teeth that were removed. Three months later, the patients were examined by X-ray. The sites where the wisdom teeth were extracted and filled with the DPCs (along with a collagen sponge scaffold) showed complete regeneration of … Read more