1. Baby teeth revealed as source of
stem cells
- Article from Divya Bhasker
20th January,2013 (Sunday)

2. Milk Teeth
 Deciduous teeth, otherwise known as reborner
teeth, baby teeth, temporary teeth and primary teeth, are
the first set of teeth in the growth development of humans
and many other mammals.
 In some Asian countries they are referred to as fall
teeth as they will eventually fall out ,while in almost all
European languages they are called milk teeth.
 They develope during the embryonic stage of
development and erupt—that is, they become visible in
the mouth—during infancy. They are usually lost and
replaced by permanent teeth, but in the absence of
permanent replacements, they can remain functional for
many years.

3.  MILK TEETH (deciduous) teeth start coming through
when babies are between 5 and 8 months old. They are
smaller than adults' teeth because children's jaws are
smaller. As the jaws grow, more teeth come through.
There are 20 deciduous teeth altogether, and they finish
coming through by about age 2 to 2½ years.
 Why are the milk teeth called so?
Milk teeth are called so due to their white colour which
resembles the colour of milk. The milk teeth are whiter than
the permanent teeth which replace them. The refractive
index of milk teeth is similar to that of milk and hence they
are called so.

4.  Deciduous teeth start to form during the embryo phase
of pregnancy. The development of deciduous teeth starts at the
sixth week of development as the dental lamina. This process
starts at the midline and then spreads back into the posterior
region. By the time the embryo is eight weeks old, there are ten
areas on the upper and lower arches that will eventually become
the deciduous dentition.
 These teeth will continue to form until they erupt in the
mouth. In the deciduous dentition there are a total of twenty
teeth: five per quadrant and ten per arch. The eruption of these
teeth ("teething") begins at the age of six months and continues
until twenty-five to thirty-three months of age. Usually, the first
teeth seen in the mouth are the mandibular centrals and the last
are the maxillary second molars.

5.  The deciduous dentition is made up of central incisors, lateral
incisors, canines, first molars, and secondary molars; there is one
in each quadrant, making a total of four of each tooth. All of these
are gradually replaced with a permanent counterpart except for
the first and second molars; they are replaced by premolars.
 The replacement of deciduous teeth begins around age six. At
that time, the permanent teeth start to appear in the mouth,
resulting in mixed dentition. The erupting permanent teeth
causes root resorption, where the permanent teeth push on the
roots of the deciduous teeth, causing the roots to be dissolved
and become absorbed by the forming permanent teeth.
 The process of shedding deciduous teeth and the replacement
by permanent teeth is called exfoliation. This may last from age
six to age twelve. By age twelve there usually are only permanent
teeth remaining.

6.  Teething age of deciduous teeth:
Central incisors : 6–12 months
Lateral incisors : 9–16 months
First molars : 13–19 months
Canine teeth : 16–23 months
Second molars : 22–33 months
 Deciduous teeth are considered essential in the development
of the oral cavity by dental researchers and dentists. The
permanent teeth replacements develop from the same tooth bud
as the deciduous teeth; this provides a guide for permanent teeth
eruption. Also the muscles of the jaw and the formation of the jaw
bones depend on the primary teeth in order to maintain the
proper space for permanent teeth. The roots of deciduous teeth
provide an opening for the permanent teeth to erupt. These teeth
are also needed for proper development of a child's speech
and chewing of food.

10.  The Stem Cells are derived from the milky teeth & can
be preserved till 21 years in the “Dental Pulp Stem cell
Bank”.
 These Stem cells are used in the treatment for the
future dangerous diseases such as liver diseases,kidney
diseases,Cancer,Spinal Cord injuries, Eye related
diseases,etc.
 Stemed Biotech M.D. Shailesh Aadre Informed during
the launching ceremony of Dental Stem Cell Bank that in
mumbai,delhi,haidrabad,banglore,chennai & pune centers,
1200 persons has preserved their dental stem cells.
 This whole process of taking the dental pulp from the
teeth costs around 1,25000 Rs.
 It is easy to take stem cells from teeth than to take them
from bones by surgery.

11.  Milk teeth fall of by 5 to 11 years.
 It is also possible to take stem cells from the
wisdom teeth from adults. Then they have been sent
to Chennai Center.
 The similarity of dental stem cells from Brother &
Sister is about 75% & from mother & father is about
50%. Therfore stem cells can also be helpful in the
treatment of relatives.
 Stem cells regenerate the damaged tissues &
organs in any disease.It can also be helpful in the cut
organs.
 Recent research is going on for the hair transplant,
teeth transplant by stem cell therapy.

12.  Currently, researchers can isolate two types of stem cells.
Embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell in the body,
but their harvesting requires the destruction of embryos,
which pro-life groups oppose. Adult stem cells avoid this
problem, but have more limited abilities. Now it appears
that the stem cells from children's lost teeth could provide
an intermediate and easily accessible source.
 In this brand new research, about to be released later
today by the NIH and the National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research, it looks like there's another place to
find stem cells that can give rise to bone and neural cells —
inside the pulp of baby teeth when they are lost by a child
— and that this non-controversial source of stem cells could
be banked for future health needs.

13.  Songtao Shi, a pediatric dentist at the US
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,
Maryland said that "These stem cells seem to
grow faster and have more potential to
differentiate into other cell types than adult stem
cells,“Shi and his colleagues found that baby
teeth cells can differentiate into tooth-forming
cells called ondontoblasts, and also neural cells
and fat cells.

14. History of this Discovery
 Dr. Songtao Shi had been doing research on the stem cells from bone
marrow.
 So one day, Dr. Songtao 6-year-old daughter had a tooth that was about to
come out, and Dr. Songtao also happened to be trained as a pediatric dentist in
addition to doing stem cell research at NIH. His daughter knew this, and instead
of going to her mom to remove her first baby tooth, she went to her dentist dad
instead. And when her dad looked inside the central-front baby tooth that had
just come out, he saw live pulp and a light bulb went off in his head. He
thought, I wonder if I could get stem cells from here.
 Previous work by Shi in 2000 had already shown that extracted adult wisdom
teeth contain stem cells in the pulp at the centre of the tooth. He took it to the
lab and found out that indeed there were stem cells there that could be
harvested. But to do the real research, he had to wait for her next baby tooth to
come out.

15.  He took that tooth to the lab at 10:30 p.m., collected the tissue and
confirmed that there were indeed stem cells. And then, because he
needed more baby teeth, he waited around like an expectant parent
waiting for his daughter’s friends’ baby teeth to come out, and he did
research on those too.
 To isolate the stem cells, Shi extracted the pulp and cultured the cells for
several days, then tested the survivors for markers of stem cell activity. About
12 to 20 cells from a typical incisor tooth turn out to be stem cells.
 By culturing the cells in various growth factors, Shi could differentiate the
cells into tooth-forming cells, fat cells or neural cells. The differentiated cells
survived when implanted under the skin and in the brain of
immunocompromised mice.
 Shi also found that the cells promote the growth of bone. He suspects the
stem cells may play a role in preparing the way for adult teeth.

16.  For bone, he hypothesized that these stem cells from a baby
tooth are the ones that result in the bone that is put down
around the new permanent tooth as it comes in. These stem
cells give the order to "make bone," so they've got the
blueprint in them. He felt that they could be given cues to
induce bone formation.
 As for neural tissue, the stem cells from teeth share a
common origin with neural tissue.
 As their research progresses, Dr. Songtao and his team
members hope that stem cells from baby teeth may one day
restore nerve cells damaged by diseases like Parkinson’s —
one of the most common neurological disorders affecting the
elderly.
 Researchers believe that with the proper cues, they may be
able to encourage the stem cells to form nerve-like tissues
which may restore cells that make dopamine — a brain
chemical that nerve cells need to function properly.

17.  An oral biologist Bjorn Reino Olsen, at Harvard Medical
School said that the discovery of stem cells in baby teeth
could give a big boost to oral surgery. The cells, once
differentiated into odontoblasts, could secrete dentine.
This bone-like material could then replace the less
biocompatible metal posts that are currently used to
anchor implants to the jaw.
 Stem cell research is the most promising path to
curing many severe diseases and conditions that today
can not be cured - Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's
disease, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury, MS, ALS,
and certain forms of cancer and heart disease, to name
just a few.

18.  So what's the difference between what
umbilical cord blood stem cells can do and what
baby tooth stem cells can do?
Right now, researchers know that from umbilical
cord blood they can get blood stem cells. They
can't get the blood stem cells from baby teeth —
but they can get the bone and neural cells.

19.  What would parents have to do to bank their
baby's teeth?
First, they will have to let the tooth fall out naturally,
when it's ready to come out. It's like picking fruit
when it’s just right. Too soon won't work, and if they
wait too long and the tooth is dangling there for
weeks, they can't get stem cells from it either. Front
teeth are the best for gathering stem cells.
The researchers say that it will be really simple. All a
parent will have to do is put the tooth in a vial in a
culture medium, milk will do, and keep it wrapped in
an ice pack at 40 degrees. Then send it to the center
using an overnight delivery service.

20. Limitations
 But as much as parents want their children to have the best
of everything and to have every possible advantage in life,
there are still a couple of issues for parents to think about
before deciding to bank umbilical cord blood.
 First, it isn't cheap. It costs between $1,500 and $2,000,
plus about $100 or more per year to store. So cost is a
prohibitive factor. Expectant mothers already have too many
decisions to make, and that's enough stress for anyone
without this as a bonus prize.

21. My Point of View
 It's important to understand the difference between
the current medical use of cord blood or stem cells from
baby teeth and the promise that such cells hold in the
future.
 If you bank the stem cells from your child's baby teeth
now, by the time, God forbid, your child or a sibling
might need them, the research will have progressed to a
point where those stem cells might be able to make a
huge difference in your child's life. And it's so simple to
do; it will likely be worth the extra effort.
 One of the name of stem cel bank is BioEden Baby
Tooth Stem Cell Bank.