Wisdom Teeth Stem Cells

"Japanese scientists say they have created human stem cells from tissue taken from the discarded wisdom teeth of a 10-year-old girl. The researchers say their work suggests that wisdom teeth could be a suitable alternative to human embryos as a source for therapeutic stem cells." [2]

However, the research suggests that it will be at least 5 years before any practical medical applications. Even so dentists and oral surgeons are know starting to hold on to stem cells from wisdom teeth.

Storing your stem cells from your wisdom teeth is the smart choice, so if you do have one or more wisdom tooth extracted you should talk to your oral surgeon about this. This is because in your lifetime it is possible that the stem cells harvested from the wisdom teeth could be of great importance to you. They could possibly cure diseases and other health problems you may have in the future. Medical researchers anticipate being able to use technologies derived from stem cell research to treat a wider variety of diseases, such as cancer, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and muscle damage.

Commerical facilities to store these stem cells exist, see the blog post https://blog.teethremoval.com/storing-wisdom-teeth-stem-cells/ for more information on possible storage services to consider.

References
1. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7576131.stm Written August 22, 2008. Accessed August 30, 2008.