There are so many scientific breakthroughs happening all around us, promising better lives and futures, it’s sometimes hard to stay current. One such advancement that parents are turning to is dental stem cell banking.

A parent makes a huge investment in their children’s growth and development through a sacrifice of both time and money. Besides the day-to-day expenses of daily life, there is the long-term costs of k-12 and higher education and all the extracurricular activities that prepare children for happy, healthy futures.

A new area parents are investing in for the health of the children comes from stem cells in teeth and is referred to as dental stem cell banking. This is how a child’s baby teeth or extracted wisdom teeth are stored and stem cells preserved if ever needed in the case of a medical crisis.

Be Prepared Today for a Crisis Tomorrow

For more than two decades stem cells have been used to treat more than 78 diseases, with more than 2,000 clinical trials completed or currently underway. Stem cells research is promising groundbreaking achievements to treat and cure a whole host of diseases and medical conditions from Autism, Alzheimer’s Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, spinal cord injury, stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack), and more. Additionally, stem cells are being used to treat healing injuries, and even grow replacement tissues like bone, cartilage, nerve, skin, muscles, and blood vessels.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells

For stem cells to be effective, they must be young, healthy cells. Mesenchymal Stem Cells come from the developing tooth bud of wisdom teeth (aka mandibular third molar) and baby teeth. The stem cells in these teeth eventually form nerve tissue, dental pulp, dentin, enamel, dentin, and blood vessels.

Because baby teeth naturally fall out they are an easy source for stem cell banking, as well as wisdom teeth which are extracted on a routine basis as children enter their teenage years. Since baby teeth have not calcified, stem cells are easily extracted. Stem cells from these young teeth are also rich in hepatocytes which are showing promising results in a potential cure for diabetes. Wisdom teeth are actually one of the best sources and used most frequently in a range of medical research.