Stem Cells from Baby Teeth Help Regrow Dental Tissue

Results from a clinical trial, jointly led by the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and the Fourth Military Medicine University in Xi’an, China, highlight the potential of dental stem cells extracted from baby teeth to regrow living tissue in teeth damaged by trauma.

The findings of the trial published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, suggest an alternative method to apexification, which encourages root development but does not replace tissue lost from the injury affecting an immature permanent tooth.

The trial focused on 40 children who had injured one of their permanent incisors and still had baby teeth. Those 10 in the control group received apexification. Thirty children who were assigned to human deciduous pulp stem cells (hDPSC) treatment had tissue extracted from a healthy baby tooth. The stem cells from the pulp were reproduced in a laboratory culture, and the resulting cells were implanted into the injured tooth.

Researchers found that patients who received hDPSCs had more signs than the control group of healthy root development, thicker dentin, and increased blood flow. Additionally, those who received hDPSCs reported to have regained some sensation.