The researchers at the GMS Dental Centers in Houston find out that the stem cell from a baby’s teeth can be helpful to treat various life threatening diseases in future. The company has already started a bank for the patients to save the teeth of their babies. The doctors also said that the banking will be more helpful to those patients who had not been able to contribute umbilical cord blood of their children.

Dr. Curt Civin, Professor of cancer research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, says that stem cell of the teeth are quite different from the umbilical cord blood stem cell. The technology will use the stem cell from the extracted teeth for therapeutic work.

The umbilical cord blood bank is used like a bank account for the family. It uses the stem cell for treatment. Today, there are a number of Cordblood banks to store umbilical cord blood. Most of the lifesaving procedures conducted with umbilical cord stem cells use cells that come from a public bank, says Dr. Curt Civin.

Jonathan Moreno, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville on the other hand opines baby teeth are not ready for widespread banking. “The benefits are entirely speculative,” says he. Sean Morrison, associate professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical Center also said stem cell from teeth can never be clinically used for treatment.

Various clinics have already started to circulate information about the whole system, procedure and cost of the system. However, it depends on the choice of the patients’ parents. However, many people think that the treatment is at the early stage and is not yet ready for marketing. It will be too early to comment anything on the subject.

Source: ABC News