Little boy sitting at the chair at the dental office while doctor examining teeth

Little boy sitting at the chair at the dental office while medico examining teeth (iStock)

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When she was but eleven months old, Billie Sue Wozniak's girl Juno was diagnosed with blazon 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that affects 1.25 million people and approximately 200,000 children under age twenty in the United States.

The disease had affected several members of Billie Sue's family unit, including her uncle, who passed away at the historic period of thirty.

"My first idea was, 'Her life is going to be short,'" the 38-year-former from Reno, Nevada recalled. "The more that I learned, the more I found that many people with type 1 live longer and the treatment advances are really exciting."

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While looking for treatments, Wozniak learned nigh encapsulation therapy, in which an encapsulated device containing insulin-producing islet cells derived from stem cells is implanted under the skin. The encapsulation device is designed to protect the cells from an autoimmune set on and may help people produce their own insulin.

Later learning of the therapy through JDRF, Wozniak saw an ad on Facebook for Store-A-Tooth, a company that offers dental stalk prison cell banking. She decided to motility forwards with the stem cell banking, merely in case the encapsulation device became an pick for Juno.

In March 2016, a dentist extracted four of Juno'southward teeth, and sent them to a lab so her stalk cells could be cryopreserved. Wozniak plans to banking company the stem cells from Juno's molars besides.

"It's a risk—I don't know for sure if it will work out," Wozniak said.

Dental stem cells: a future of possibilities

For years, stem cells from umbilical cord claret and bone marrow have been used to treat blood and bone marrow diseases, claret cancers and metabolic and immune disorders.

Although there is the potential for dental stem cells to be used in the same fashion, researchers are only beginning to delve into the possibilities.

"Dental stem cells are not science fiction," said Dr. Jade Miller, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. "I think at some point in fourth dimension, nosotros're going to run into dental stem cells used by dentists…on a daily practice."

Dental stem cells take the potential to produce dental tissue, bone, cartilage and muscle. They may exist used to repair cavities, fix a tooth damaged from periodontal illness or bone loss, or even abound a tooth instead of using dental implants.

In fact, stem cells can be used to repair cracks in teeth and cavities, according to a recent mouse report published in the periodical Scientific Reports.

In that location'south also some evidence that dental stem cells can produce nerve tissue, which might eliminate the need for root canals. A recent study out of Tufts University found that a collagen-based biomaterial used to evangelize stem cells to the inside of damaged teeth can regenerate dental pulp-similar tissues.

Dental stem cells may fifty-fifty exist able to treat neurological disorders, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.

"I believe those are the kinds of applications that will be the first uses of these cells," said Dr. Peter Verlander, Chief Scientific Officeholder for Shop-A-Tooth.

When it comes to treating diseases like type 1 diabetes, dental stem cells also testify promise. In fact, a written report in the Periodical of Dental Enquiry constitute that dental stem cells were able to form islet-like aggregates that produce insulin.

Dissimilar umbilical cord blood where there'due south one adventure to collect stalk cells, dental stem cells tin can be nerveless from several teeth. Too, gathering stalk cells from os marrow requires invasive surgery and adventure, and it can be painful and costly.

The stem cells found in babe teeth, known as mesenchymal cells, are like to those found in other parts of the body, but not identical.

"There are differences in these cells, depending on where they come from," Verlander said.

What'southward more, mesenchymal stem cells themselves differ from hematopoietic, or blood-forming stem cells. Unlike hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells can aggrandize.

"From one tooth, we expect to generate hundreds of billions of cells," Verlander said.

Yet the apply of dental stem cells is not without risks. For example, there's bear witness that tumors can develop when stalk cells are transplanted. There's also a chance of an immune rejection, merely this is less likely if a person uses his own stem cells, Miller said.

The process for banking stem cells from babe teeth is relatively simple. A dentist extracts the child's teeth when ane-third of the root remains and the stem cells are notwithstanding viable. In one case the teeth are shipped and received, the cells are extracted, grown and cryopreserved.

Shop-A-Molar's fees include a one-fourth dimension payment of $1,749 and $120 per year for storage, in addition to the dentist'southward fees for extraction.

For families who are interested in banking dental stem cells, they should know that they're not necessarily a replacement for cord claret banking or bone marrow stem cells.

"They're not interchangeable, we recall of them every bit complementary," Verlander said.

Although the futurity is unclear for Juno—who was built-in in 2008—her mom is optimistic that she'll be able to utilize the stalk cells for herself and if non, someone else.

Ultimately, nevertheless, Wozniak hopes that if dental stem cells aren't the reply, there will exist a biological cure for type 1 diabetes.

"I hold out hope that somewhere, someone is going to crack the code," she said.