Dr. Laraway (our dentist) does a monthly post for us talking about dentistry. I know that might not be really exciting, but there are some really cool new things out there that I have never heard of before, and I wanted her to share them with you.
Remember when you were having a baby and you got all the info on storing the cord blood? Has anyone done that?? I really wanted to but we could never afford it. 🙁 I figured I had lost my chance, but last cleaning Dr. Laraway showed us how they can do it with your teeth!! So this got me thinking about all those baby teeth my kids are loosing!!
From Dr. Laraway:
Very few people know that stem cells are in teeth not just in cord blood. Similar to umbilical cord blood banking, dental stem cells can be cryopreserved for years. This provides the opportunity for patients who are having otherwise healthy teeth removed in the normal course of dental care to save their own stem cells today for uses tomorrow, even if they had not saved cord blood at the time of birth.
The cells found in teeth can form soft tissue and bone so may offer a BROADER range of regenerative applications than the stem cells from cord blood.
Potential applications of dental stem cells are:
- Dental bone
- Periodontal -gum disease
- Pulp and tooth regeneration
- Craniofacial and skeletal bone
- Cornea repair
- Spinal cord injury
- Muscular dystrophy
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Liver disease
- Parkinson’s
- Alzheimer’s
- DIABETES
Any tooth with healthy active blood supply is a viable candidate for stem cell preservation.That means loose baby teeth with still some root left; teeth removed for braces, extracted wisdom teeth. Which is better loose baby tooth or adult tooth? Research shows that the YOUNGER the tooth, the better but any tooth will work.
How much does it cost? The whole tissue service is $649 for processing and $120 a year for storage.
If you have not kept cord blood then you can take your second chance at your child’s well being and cheat that darn tooth fairy out of her money!
This is Tiffany back…
How can you afford this? This is just like the umbilical cord blood decision, although you have a little more time and a few chances. Every family and situation is different, but I can give you a few suggestions of what we have thought about:
- Ask for it as a combined gift from Grandparents and family for a birthday or Christmas. I know my parents would be interested in this as compared to another toy 🙂
- Set aside $50 a month or whatever you can spare, and see what you are at as they start loosing teeth!
- Have a Walmart gift card, every time you go through the check out have them round up the amount by $5 and add it to the card. This is a great way to save some money, just don’t lose the card!
Just like any large purchase, I will have to save a little at a time. This is so interesting to me and worth really considering. What do you think??
Call LARAWAY FAMILY DENTISTRY at 936-321-1477 to schedule your appointment.
Houstonmama Charity says
This is great news! I did the cord blood banking for each of my children, born in 2003 and 2010, but many of my friends did not and have always regretted it!
Tiffany says
That is me. I totally regretted it! For me that hard part is going to pay the $120 x 7 each year. Well, my older ones dont have baby teeth anymore so I would have to wait until wisdom teeth come out.
Anonymous says
Ours is $90/year but only x2; x7 is much tougher! I feel that with all the medical advances now and in the future it’s so important to have this, just in case. Even my obgyn was surprised that I did it since most of her patients don’t, but then they ask about it later! So learning about a second chance with teeth is GREAT.
Crystal (TucksMommy) says
This is very weird to hear! For adoptive families, this could be a life saver, literally. We always just thought stem cells was something we couldn’t offer our kids, or even genetic similarities in case something happened later in life! Many families have genetic ties to donate bone marrow etc. and we just don’t! None of my littles have lost teeth yet, but our son is about to he’s 6. Our girl ARE biological siblings, but not our boy. I really wish we could afford this for him especially.
Tiffany says
Wow! I did not even think of adoption!! I was just floored when I heard about it!!
Crystal (TucksMommy) says
I never thought about it either, until recently. We would have to take a shot in the dark on donor registries for him, we likely wouldn’t be a match since we aren’t even the same race. I can’t imagine how many adoptive families they could reach with proper marketing. Hopefully this goes down a little in price somewhere!