When you are a kid, the removal of the first baby tooth is both interesting and a little bit shocking experience. It is a real mystery for little children why their teeth are falling off when they are so small and young.
You have followed the tips and advice from your dentist and parents and you’ve brushed and flossed your teeth before bedtime and in the morning. Let’s be honest, you may have skipped some flossing, but that should not explain why you have started losing teeth.
While you are still wondering why this is happening, you hear your parents talking about the tooth fairy a mythical creature that gives money for old teeth. It sounds amazing, right? Receiving money for an old useless tooth sounds like a great deal. However, it turns out that old teeth are worth a lot more than a few dollars.
So, when you notice that your kid will lose some of his teeth, tell the Tooth Fairy to visit another child that night. In case you didn’t know, teeth come with stem cells located in the dental pulp. The term stem cell is usually linked to controversial stem cell research and studies, but this term means a lot more things.
Find out more about why kids’ baby teeth are so important and how they have the potential to save human lives in the future.
Why kids’ baby teeth are so important
Stem cells, including the ones located in baby teeth, can boost the number of cells of their kind and also some other types of cells. In other words, they can help us regenerate and renew bones, neurons, and cartilage. This is certainly good news!
Patients that are part of chemotherapy are reaping the benefits of stem cells located in umbilical cord blood and if science manages to use another source of stem cells (baby teeth) that would be great.
Sadly, the technology to utilize stem cells from our teeth is in its beta phase and if you decide to keep your child’s teeth for this purpose you will have to wait and see whether scientists will be able to find a way to use these cells.
According to some experts, one of the best things about keeping your stem cells is the fact that your body will most likely accept these cells in cases of emergency. There is a great risk of rejection for people who receive stem cells from other people and this was confirmed in many cases of bone marrow transplantation.
So, there are many people who are wondering why all the people are not banking their teeth. The simple answer is that this process is costly. The fact is that you can’t store them in your freezer or use a safe in a bank to store them.
There are specialized companies for this purpose (Tooth Bank, Store-A-Tooth, etc.). Companies like this ask for about one thousand dollars for the initial storage and about one hundred dollars a year. For many people, this price is very high, but the fact is that if scientists become able to use these cells, their value will be priceless.
It is good to point out that stem cells located in umbilical cord blood are able to heal more than 65 diseases and health issues.
Can’t we use alligator teeth for stem cells? Well maybe we can, but the idea is just too weird.
However, according to Dr. Curt Calvin who works as a professor at the reputable Johns Hopkins University focused on cancer research, we shouldn’t expect too much from our teeth at least not in the near future. As a matter of fact, in a recent interview, he said that people may never use tooth stem cells.
However, he supports donations of umbilical cord blood because medical science is already relying on this blood to treat people. Of course, Dr. Curt Calvin is just one scientist and doesn’t represent the scientific community in general.
Banking teeth may be a long shot, but when we know that this practice has the potential to save lives it sounds quite logical to use it.
So, in case you have the money to invest in this practice that would be great. However, if you don’t have extra money this shouldn’t concern you. Check your dentist’s opinion and see what he thinks about banking teeth and stem cells.