Stem cells could be made from children's milk teeth, therefore, scientists recommend keeping them

by Shirley Marie Bradby

March 12, 2019

Stem cells could be made from children's milk teeth, therefore, scientists recommend keeping them
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Each of us has memories related to when our first milk tooth fell out, a tooth that probably your mother or your father has jealously preserved as a keepsake for all these years.

According to the researchers, this practice widely used by parents could save the lives of their children in the future.

Everything would be linked to stem cell research and the possibility of obtaining a small number of stem cells from a child's milk teeth.

via The Independent

moderndayvigilante / reddit

moderndayvigilante / reddit

There is no parent in the world who has not kept the milk teeth of their children, mostly for sentimental reasons.

These little keepsakes could actually come in very useful in the future. In fact, many scientists are advising parents to not throw their child's milk teeth away and instead to store them properly. This is because they could be used to extract dental stem cells that can be useful for saving people's lives. But how does this work? 

In short, stem cells are nothing but very young cells that still have to grow and they can also be taken from milk teeth as long as the latter have been adequately preserved.

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Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Due to their nature, stem cells can take the place of any other damaged cell in the body, and could thus help fight certain types of diseases such as tumors. This area of medicine, however, is still in its experimental stage.

Therefore, preserving milk teeth could be a reasonable choice or perhaps not. In any case, it must be said that the preservation of milk teeth must be done under specific environmental conditions. Therefore, it is not enough to keep them in a container at home. There are special medical banks that store biological material, but they have a cost that must be considered.

In any case, there are still many uncertainties about the usefulness of milk teeth, nevertheless, you can always keep your children's milk teeth as a souvenir!

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