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Phoenix666 writes:

"The biggest challenges with stem cells are gathering enough of them to work with and keeping them viable until they are needed," Dr. Mah said.

He and UNLV biomedical sciences professor Karl Kingsley—along with a handful of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral dental students—decided to take on this challenge, cutting their teeth in stem cell research by exploring those pearly whites in new ways. In the process, they developed a new method for extracting large numbers of stem cells they could then preserve from a surprisingly abundant source: wisdom teeth.

"More and more adults—approximately 5 million throughout the country—have their wisdom teeth, or third molars, removed," Kingsley said. "Extracting teeth is relatively common among patients undergoing orthodontic treatments. And the majority of those teeth are healthy, containing viable tooth root pulp that offers opportunities for reproducing cells that have been damaged or destroyed by injuries or disease."

So, keeping those teeth would be wise.

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