stem cells were used successfully to regenerate jaw bone

Stem cells help the body renew and repair itself. When people hear "stem cells" they often think "embryonic stem cells", but there are also adult stem cells. For decades, doctors have quietly been using these noncontroversial adult stem cells from bone marrow or umbilical cord blood to treat diseases such as leukemia, and over 500,000 families have privately stored their child's umbilical cord blood for its potential medical uses in the future.

It turns out that there are also potent stem cells that live in the dental pulp (the meaty tissue inside teeth) and the periodontal ligament (the layer of tissue that keeps the tooth attached to the jaw bone). Scientists have called these stem cells "dental stem cells". Dental Curing Light Although they are found in or around teeth, these "dental stem cells" have the potential to be useful for a wide range of regenerative dental and medical applications.

The story of these stem cells from teeth goes back to a curious scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2000, Dr. Songtao Shi was researching stem cells from bone marrow. One day when his daughter was losing her baby teeth, he rushed one into his lab and found similar 'mesenchymal' stem cells inside.

Over the past 10 years, scientists and doctors have investigated many uses for dental stem cells such as for regenerating bone, repairing or building new teeth, and treating a number of serious conditions such as type 1 diabetes, spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy, Intraoral Camera

stroke and myocardial infarction (heart attack), repairing corneal damage, and treating neurological diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

In 2009, dental stem cells were used successfully to regenerate jaw bone in the clinic and to treat periodontal disease. In 2011, scientists showed that dental stem cells can create islet cells, similar to those in the pancreas, which produce insulin in response to glucose levels – suggesting that dental stem cells may someday play a role in treating type 1 diabetes.