Many know that deciduous teeth are an excellent source of stem cells. But did you know that wisdom teeth are an excellent source as well? According to the National Dental Pulp Laboratory, if you are having your wisdom teeth extracted, it is an excellent time to bank dental stem cells, since they are typically extracted at a younger age, and usually removed in healthy condition. Unfortunately, they usually get discarded into bio-hazard. So, those wisdom teeth you’re having taken out….don’t throw them out! The stem cells inside may be used in the future to address a wide range of conditions, and are at the forefront of the medical revolution of regenerative medicine.
Parents: there is a very good chance that your child’s banked dental pulp stem cells from their extracted wisdom teeth will one day be useful in the treatment of diseases and conditions that may affect them in the future. Doctors and researchers are working around the clock to discover new therapies and applications for restoring and renewing human tissues with these remarkable cells.
Wisdom teeth are the 3rd set of molars that usually erupt between the ages of 17 and 25, though they may continue to grow until around age 30. Wisdom tooth removal typically occurs when multipotent dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are are at the peak of their viability—between the ages of 13-24. These molars erupt just behind the 2nd set of molars, also called 12-year molars. Sometimes it is normal for the wisdom teeth to be congenitally missing or to even develop extra teeth in the area.
Proponents of the procedure say that it makes much more sense to harvest and bank the best stem cells for use in future medical therapies through one simple and non-invasive wisdom tooth extraction procedure. These powerful DPSCs are prized by stem cells scientists for their ability to regenerate and repair connective tissue, bone, dental tissue, vital organs, and nerve tissue.
According to stemodontics.com, the process of harvesting and cryopreserving your stem cells is like a time capsule—the stem cells are suspended in time and never age, so when healthy and youthful stem cells are banked for potential use in future medical treatments, the cells can be thawed and used at their healthiest state. By banking stem cells from wisdom teeth, the potential for rejection, reaction, or developing a disease that could accompany the use of donor stem cells in the future is completely eliminated.
As the future of health care heads toward an exciting tipping point, banking stem cells is quickly becoming a popular option for families. Doctors and researchers are anticipating a transformation of modern medicine from simply treating symptoms to creating biologic solutions that may someday result in healing disease and restoring healthy function. This new era of healing will focus on prevention and cure using stem cell therapies to treat all age groups and the entire scope of human diseases, including degenerative conditions, cardiovascular and neurological diseases, diabetes, organ failure, autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, dementia, cancer, and the list goes on. Current research suggests that stem cell biology may also allow for the growth of healthy new replacement tissues and organs for transplantation.
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