Everyone once in their adult life has experienced the mortifying pain when a wisdom tooth grows. And almost everyone has opted for its removal. But the value they hold is only recently discovered when scientists isolated pulp-resident cells that act like immature body builders and can be transformed into neurons, muscle, bone, or heart once coaxed in the lab.
Ibarretxe’s team were recently able to turn the pulp cells into electrically excitable neuron-like cells, which were able to fire the voltage spikes that real neurons use to talk.
Ibarretxe noted that the jump from marker expression to genuine electrical activity is essential, as damaged brain circuits need cells that can send signals.
Fate of wisdom teeth
Most of the extracted wisdom teeth head straight to a biomedical waste bin. Each freshly extracted tooth can provide a painless harvest of living tissue. Dentists normally prefer teens or young adults around the ages of 13 and 24 to harvest fresh pulp cells that still divide briskly and hold fewer DNA errors.
Laboratories partnered with an oral clinic, then transfer the freshly extracted tooth to a bank of teeth on dry ice, then ship them to GMP-grade freezers where the pulp is processed and stored in liquid nitrogen.
Stemodontics is one such example where stem cell preservation services from wisdom teeth are provided. And they call their practice “biological insurance”.
Unlike embryonic or cord blood stem cells, dental pulp stem cells are collected with minimal ethical concerns, as the tissue would otherwise be thrown away.
Diseases it can cure
Rodent models of Parkinson’s disease have shown ease in motor symptoms with the help of dental-pulp cells by replacing lost dopamine-making neurons.
In Alzheimer’s research, the pulp cells of wisdom teeth secrete growth factors that could protect synapses and might reduce the buildup of toxic proteins. A recent review highlighted how pulp-derived cells help clear amyloid plaques and calm brain inflammation.
Even though the trial used embryonic lines, dental stem cells may offer similar benefits minus the ethical baggage, as wisdom teeth are usually discarded in biomedical waste.
Another benefit is that one’s own dental stem cells will prevent immune-rejection worries and can save months off treatment timelines required otherwise in donor matching.
It can also build mineralised tissue faster than bone marrow, making it a better choice in jaw repair after tumour surgery.
In case of heart failure, a mouse model has shown improved ejection fractions after testing with dental-pulp secretions, suggesting the potential for future patches grown from a patient’s own molar.
During orthopaedic research, in vitro, the dental cells lay down collagen and calcium in orderly sheets mimicking healthy cartilage, pointing towards possible joint-repair grafts.
Current status
To avoid integration of transplanted cells without forming tumours, regulators still need long-term safety data.
Multicenter trials are still being drafted that compare pulp-cell implants with standard deep-brain stimulation for movement disorders.
If the dental stem cells show positive results in restoring function and trimming health-care costs, dentists might soon provide a preservation kit to every patient along with post-op ice packs.