Dental cell banking for regenerative medicine

Abstract

Prior to the identification of induced pluripotent stem cells, better known as iPS cells, somatic stem cells (tissue stem cells) were considered the most prominent candidates in regenerative medicine. Characteristically, these stem cells can be obtained from the patients themselves, and pose a low risk of tumorigenesis. They are essential for‘ medical safety,’ which has been much talked about, particularly in the recent years. Dental stem cells, which can be obtained from extracted teeth during conventional dental treatments, can be collected from a wide range of patients, from children to adults. These stem cells are well preserved as they are present in the hard teeth. Therefore, efforts are now being made to culture and cryopreserve dental stem cells in a cell banking system for future use in regenerative medicine. In this paper, we provide an overview on the appeal of dental stem cells, which pose low risk of tumorigenesis, as a source of stem cells common to medicine and dentistry and the efforts being made to create a cell bank for future use in regenerative medicine.