Store-A-Tooth Could Contribute to Treatment of Sibling Diabetes.

Store-A-Tooth Could Contribute to Treatment of Sibling Diabetes.

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As anyone who has undergone the procedure can testify, the removal of a wisdom teeth can often be an unpleasant experience, but for one family this very procedure resulted in some unexpected benefits.

A 20-year-old college student Steven Lewis suffers from type one Diabetes, as does his 16-year-old sister. However, they both believe that one day their teeth will become a source of cure for their disease.

Their mother – having been disappointed that their cord blood was not banked when the opportunity arose – managed to bank their teeth when Steve got his wisdom tooth removed, and when Hannah got her baby teeth extracted, using Store-A-Tooth technology.

Dr. Gary Orentlicher, who removed Steven?s wisdom teeth said that he directly sends the removed tooth to the stem cell harvesting company if the patients request the said procedure to be made. Store-A-Tooth harvest the dental stem cells from dental pulp, which works best when any tooth – adult or baby – is extracted, however it is preferable to have baby teeth as they contain younger stem cells.

Stem cells were used to treat leukemia and some other major diseases, but the stem cells collected from the teeth were not used in any such ways yet. Dr. Richard Besser of ABC says that people should have realistic expectations on the topic.

Scott Wolf, CEO and Director of Research for Grace Century comments: ?In the clip, Dr. Richard Besser, a TV Doctor, had to give a balanced view, and what he doesn?t say is that yes, you can get stem cells from all parts of your body?but what you want are the cells to be as young as possible, from a time when there are no ailments present, and get specific MSC cells that are there in the pulp. These are the type that can be manipulated and expanded to muscle, tissue, nerves, and even body parts. Not all cells are MSC cells?

Read the rest of the article here.