Your teeth are impressive structures; they are vital in helping you chew and break down food. Without your teeth, you would be unable to eat and survive, so repairing, restoring, and replacing your teeth is a top priority for your dental professionals in Jensen Beach, FL. Typical dental restorative treatments use synthetic materials, and your dentist is limited in terms of what restorations they can complete with the current materials that are available. Also, as strong as your teeth are, they are limited in the amount of wear and tear and repair they can tolerate, so researchers have been studying the possibility of using stem cell therapy to regenerate and repair teeth.
What Is Dental Stem Cell Therapy?
Dental stem cells are found within the pulp of your healthy deciduous teeth, wisdom teeth, and other teeth and can be used to restore and regenerate tooth structures. These stem cells can have many potential applications for dental treatments, including the following:
- Regenerating periodontal ligaments lost due to periodontal disease
- Restoring tooth pulp that is lost due to infection
- Regenerating teeth
What Types of Dental Stem Cells Are Available?
Your teeth have a variety of different stem cells that can be used for both dental and non-dental applications; some of your dental stem cells could potentially be used to treat life-threatening diseases.
Harvesting dental stem cells from teeth you have lost, or teeth your dentist has extracted is a simple process. These stem cells can be taken from children’s teeth or adult teeth, from the periodontal ligament that connects the jawbone to the tooth, from developing roots, or from the tissues of unerupted teeth.
Five different types of dental stem cells could potentially be used for dental treatments; they are:
- Dental pulp stem cells –these stem cells help to repair other damaged cells and were first taken from the third molars of adults.
- Exfoliated deciduous teeth stem cells – These stem cells come from the pulp of deciduous teeth and have shown the ability to produce dentine and bone formation. Deciduous teeth stem cells, also known as SHED, are used in a procedure called pulp tissue engineering, where the pulp is removed, and stem cells take their place. Amazingly, the tissue formed using SHED looks and acts like natural dental pulp.
- Periodontal ligament stem cells – These stem cells are located between the cementum and inner walls of the alveolar bone and can potentially treat the infection and inflammation associated with gum disease.
- Apical papilla stem cells – These stem cells come from the root apical papilla and can be found in the tips of the tooth’s root, but they are only available before a tooth erupts during the root development phase.
- Dental follicle progenitor stem cells – These stem cells derive from a group of mesenchymal progenitor cells that eventually become a tooth; these cells are responsible for the cementum, periodontal ligament, and alveolar bone formation when teeth are formed.
How Does Dental Stem Cell Therapy Work?
The three main clinical applications for dental stem cell therapy are for periodontitis, dental pulp, and tooth regeneration. These procedures work in the following way:
Periodontitis – When you have gum disease, you lose connective tissue that is attached to your jawbone. Specific stem cells have been used to recreate that connective tissue. Scientists have used periodontal ligament stem cells to facilitate this process.
Dental pulp – If you have a severe infection in your tooth, your dentist removes the dental pulp from the inside of your tooth, effectively killing the tooth. Studies indicate that dental stem cells can regenerate that dental pulp within three or four months, giving dental professionals the hope that they can improve oral health in their patients.
Tooth regeneration – The current dental procedure for replacing missing teeth involves dental implants where a rod or implant is placed into the jawbone, and an artificial crown is placed on top of the implant. Although dental implants are a viable option for replacing your teeth, they cause more force to be applied to your jawbone since you don’t have periodontal ligament material to help absorb some of the shock. Another concern with dental implants is that some patients need bone grafting before they can undergo dental implant surgery. So, tooth regeneration using stem cells could be the future for treating tooth injuries and other tooth damage.
Are You Interested in Cosmetic Dentistry in Jensen Beach, FL?
If you would like more information about dental stem cell therapy, or if you would like to discuss your cosmetic dentistry options with a member of our team, please get in touch with our dental office at (772) 334-4004, and we would be happy to schedule a consultation with you. At Jensen Beach Dental, we want to combine the latest technological advances with caring and compassionate treatment to give you the beautiful smile you want and deserve.