Bone and Organ Creation from Dental Stem Cells

Har­vest­ing stem cells from teeth can unlock fam­ily den­tal his­to­ries and may some­day be used to grow healthy bone and tis­sue, effec­tively revers­ing oral dam­age and allow­ing the gen­er­a­tion of healthy organs from new teeth to replace­ment organs, made pos­si­ble since stem cells are undif­fer­en­ti­ated, mean­ing they are not clas­si­fieds as tis­sue or organs but can be either. Organs grown from one’s cells are not rejected and would last one’s life­time. Dr. Bob Pen­sak, who elected to save his daughter’s cells when she had her wis­dom teeth removed, calls the poten­tial “miraculous.”

Oral Can­cer Facts

• 35,000 new cases annu­ally in U.S.
• 7,500 deaths
• Inci­dence of oral can­cer is 3X greater than cer­vi­cal can­cer with 2x more deaths
• 5 year sur­vival rate 59%, with early detec­tion 80%
• Sixth most com­mon can­cer worldwide
• 75% of patients use tobacco and/​or alcohol
• Aver­age oral can­cer screen­ing test $35 — $65

Source(s):

Acad­emy of Gen­eral Den­tistry, 2008
Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety, 2008