By Azera Parveen Rahman, New Delhi, March 30 : Is your child about to lose her milk tooth? Instead of throwing it away, you can now opt to use it to harvest stem cells in a dental stem cell bank for future use in the face of serious ailments. Now that's a tooth fairy story coming to life. <\/p>\n
Still relatively new in India, dental stem cell banking is fast gaining popularity as a more viable option over umbilical cord blood banking. <\/p>\n
Stem cell therapy involves a kind of intervention strategy in which healthy, new cells are introduced into a damaged tissue to treat a disease or an injury. <\/p>\n
\"The umbilical cord is a good source for blood-related cells, or hemaotopoietic cells, which can be used for blood-related diseases, like leukaemia (blood cancer). Having said that, blood-related disorders constitute only four percent of all diseases,\" Shailesh Gadre, founder and managing director of the company Stemade Biotech, told IANS. <\/p>\n
\"For the rest of the 96 percent tissue-related diseases, the tooth is a good source of mesenchymal (tissue-related) stem cells. These cells have potential application in all other tissues of the body, for instance, the brain, in case of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's; the eye (corneal reconstruction), liver (cirrhosis), pancreas (diabetes), bone (fractures, reconstruction), skin and the like,\" he said. <\/p>\n
Mesenchymal cells can also be used to regenerate cardiac cells. <\/p>\n
Dental stem cell banking also has an advantage when it comes to the process of obtaining stem cells. <\/p>\n
\"Obtaining stem cells from the tooth is a non-invasive procedure that requires no surgery, with little or no pain. A child, in the age group of 5-12, is any way going to lose his milk tooth. So when it's a little shaky, it can be collected with hardly any discomfort,\" Savita Menon, a pedodontist, said. <\/p>\n
\"Moreover, in a number of cases, when an adolescent needs braces, the doctor recommends that his pre-molars be removed. These can also be used as a source for stem cells. And over and above that, an adult's wisdom tooth can also be used for the same purpose,\" Gadre added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nYour child's milk tooth can save her life<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"