If you fear you have missed the boat as regards banking your children’s stem cells at birth, Stephanie Fsadni says they can also be extracted from teeth to be harvested and stored for future health remedies.
The regenerative role of stem cells in the human body is the subject of intense medical research and stem cell therapies are being developed at an unprecedented pace.
Stem cells have been successfully used to grow replacement skin, replacement tracheas, new corneas and heart repair after cardiac attacks. It is widely believed that stem cell therapy may offer remedies for such conditions as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Everyone may benefit from such research, since technology has made it possible to extract stem cells from various body parts, including bone marrow, blood and umbilical cord blood.
Worldwide, there are a number of documented cases of a patient’s stem cells being used for a variety of medical conditions
Umbilical cord blood has been particularly advertised, however, if parents have missed the chance of banking their child’s stem cells at birth, they need not despair as new technology has made it possible to extract stem cells from baby teeth.
Dental stem cell banking was introduced in Malta in 2009 by BioEden Malta, and the response has been “very enthusiastic”, according to Gozitan dentist Joseph Xuereb.
“Parents have reported their utmost satisfaction with both the service as well as the opportunity of saving their child’s stem cells, especially if they had lost the opportunity at the time of the birth of their child,” he says.
The core of the baby tooth, that contains blood vessels, nerve endings and fatty tissue, is a very rich source of four types of adult stem cells: mesenchymal, chondrocytes, oteoblasts and adipocytes.
Mesenchymal stem cells are the most important since they have the ability to develop into a wide range of tissues; chondrocytes have the ability to generate cartilage and therefore are ideal to treat arthritis or joint injuries; osteoblasts can become bone; and adipocytes can repair damaged cardiac tissue following a heart attack or for reconstructive surgery of the face.
Once the parent registers the child with BioEden, they are supplied with a kit and instructions on how to preserve a baby tooth. Once the tooth is removed from the mouth, it is couriered under special conditions to a processing laboratory in the UK, accompanied by a blood sample.
Within two to three weeks, a minimum number of stem cells are cultivated and the sample stored under secure conditions for eventual use in the future. Stem cells can be stored in liquid nitrogen “indefinitely”.
So far, Xuereb says none of his patients has had the need to withdraw stem cells from the bank.
“Worldwide, however, there are a number of documented cases of a patient’s stem cells being used for a variety of medical conditions as well as to treat trauma and for burns victims,” he adds.
The cost of registering a child, harvesting a tooth and processing the sample of stem cells costs €950. The annual storage fee for the cells is €90, but long-term storage payment plans are also available.
The fee may sound a bit prohibitive for some, but one should also take into consideration the fact that family members may also benefit from a single banking.
“Siblings would most likely be compatible in around 25 per cent of cases, so the cells of a brother or sister might be able to be used occasionally. This percentage rises sharply in the cases of the parents and grandparents of the child whose cells have been successfully harvested and stored,” explains Xuereb.
The discovery of stem cells in baby teeth was made in 2003 by Songtao Shi, a researcher at the University of Southern California, after his six-year-old daughter lost a tooth.