Chennai: Dental stem cell banking is yet to gain acceptance in a big way in Tamil Nadu. This is probably due to there being less awareness about it as well as the prohibitive cost of banking for possible use in the future.
Experts, however, say the stem cells obtained from the patient could help regenerate the gums and tissues. “The mesenchymal cells can modify into site specific areas and help regenerate the tissue or gums. They can be used to grow biomemetic scaffolds,” says Dr Manikandan, zonal director, Vasan Dental Care.
He says scientists have successfully regenerated the teeth in mice and that “days are not far off for the humans to have their teeth grown using stem cells.”
“At present, we can regenerate gums or bones using the stem cells derived from the patient. Such stem cell are safe and do not cause any rejection,” he adds.
“It costs anywhere around Rs 1 lakh to have the dental stem cell preserved in the stem cell banks for about a year,” a dentist said.
He said dental pulp (soft live tissue inside a tooth) is the source for stem cells.
The finest Dental Pulp Stem Cells are found in a baby teeth or milk teeth. These are mesenchymal type of cells i.e. cells having the ability to generate a wide variety of cell types like chondrocytes, osteoblasts and adipocytes.
