Skip tooth fairy, send baby teeth to stem cell bank

The Japan Times has an exciting article about baby teeth & stem cells:

Skip tooth fairy, send baby teeth to stem cell bank

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Nagoya University researchers have formed a primary tooth bank to use tooth stem cells in regenerative medicine and to enable their use in bone fracture and other treatments.

If the regenerative medicine techniques succeed, stem cells collected from childhood teeth would be able to treat bone fractures later in life, and also to treat the broken bones of their grandparents.

The team established the bank because primary teeth can easily be collected and contain high-density stem cells with high proliferating ability.

"Unlike other stem cells, such as those of fertilized eggs, it will not be ethically controversial to use those of teeth in regenerative medicine, and the teeth are thus considered an important resource in this research field," said professor Minoru Ueda of the university.