Bank child’s milk teeth for future

BANGALORE: When his sixyear-old son’s tooth was about to fall off, Rachit Saxena , a banking sector consultant based in Whitefield, Bangalore , chose to put it in a dental stem cell bank. “He would lose the tooth anyway, so I thought of putting it to good use,” Saxena said.
Dental stem cell banking, a relatively new concept, is beginning to take off in India.While umbilical cord blood banking is over a decade old, dental pulp banking debuted just a year ago. Two Mumbaibased companies — Stemade Biotech and Store Your Cells — are offering the services of cryo-preserving (storing at low temperatures) dental pulp. Stemade Biotech recently opened its teeth collection centres in Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai. Store Your Cells operates through dentists.
Once a tooth is extracted, it is kept in a tooth collection kit and sent to the lab for cryopreserving . Children’s milk teeth can be preserved. Adults, too, have an option of storing their wisdom teeth for stem cell applications.
“I have only one daughter. I want to provide her the best in life, including bio-insurance ,” said Dr Shailaja Prasad , a Bangalore-based dentist who has banked her 10-year-old daughter’s tooth. “Since I missed out preserving the umbilical cord blood, I utilized the opportunity of storing her dental pulp, which may prove beneficial when she grows up. When we don’t mind spending for birthday parties, outings and on gadgets, why not invest in a technology that may prove a lifesaver for our children?”
Stem cell treatment is an interventional strategy that introduces new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. “Recently , the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, commenced studies to show the efficacy of dental stem cells to grow into heart cells. Global studies point towards the future possibility of treating an array of diseases and injuries such as cancer, cardiac diseases, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and muscle damage using stem cells,” Shailesh Gadre, founder and managing director of Stemade Biotech , told TOI.
Researchers are hopeful that new teeth can be grown using a person’s own dental stem cells. Studies are in progress to put dental stem cells to cosmetic applications such as growing hair.
How much it costs?
About Rs 1.5 lakh to preserve dental pulp for 20 yrs
How it helps?
Stem cell treatment is an interventional strategy that introduces new cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. Cells may hold the key to the cure of some of the most baffling diseases of today and of the future
More people banking on dental stem cell
The ethical questions raised over the use of embryonic cells — which are extracted from destroyed embryos — has shifted much of the focus of global scientific research towards the use of adult autologous stem cells for their therapeutic potential . Autologous stem cells are extracted from one’s own body and hence there are no ethical questions involved in their use.
Dr Kedar Gadgil of Store Your Cells said there is growing interest among people in dental stem cell banking. While majority of registrations are for healthy children ,in somecases ,children with a history of family illness or those who suffer from juvenile diabetes and other ailments , are also being registered.
“Extracting stem cells from bone marrow involves surgery whereas umbilical cord blood can be preserved only at birth . Because dental pulp can be collectedfrom baby teeth andwisdom teeth,thetechnique provides easy and multiple opportunities for people to preserve their stem cells,” Gadgil said.
“We receive a number of enquiries every week. About 300 people, including children and adults, have banked their teeth with Stemade so far ,” said Shailesh Gadre . Stem cells extracted from bone marrow , umbilical cord blood and menstrual blood are bankedin India .The marketfor umbilicalcordblood banking has reached about one lakh samples .
The debate
Scientificskepticism swirls aroundtreatmentinvolving stem cells. The US FDA has expressed concern over patients having hopes for cures that are not yet available . “Banking stem cells as bio-insurance is fine , the future of stem cell therapy looks promising. At present, several therapies such as treating spinal cord injury by harvesting stem cells, are still unproven and are in various stages of research . People should beware of clinics and hospitals that make tall claims andextract money,” saidD r Ketna Mehta of Nina Foundation, a Mumbai-basedNGOthatoffers rehabilitation services for people with spinal cord injury .