"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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:43AM
Why do we need a "source" of stem cells? Can't we just reprogram a skin flake to turn into any kind of cells we want? Or create it from scratch using synthetic DNA?
(Score: 1) by pdfernhout on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
And make up your own mind...
The biggest challenge of the 21st century: the irony of technologies of abundance used by scarcity-minded people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @09:38AM
OK I searched and found this:
Thanks for the heads up!
(Score: 4, Funny) by krishnoid on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:44PM
Is it safe?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @12:58AM
Damnit.
(Score: 0, Troll) by d(++)b on Sunday October 08 2017, @05:52AM (1 child)
An obvious sign that your are dealing with a crooked (incompetent/greedy) dentist is the suggestion that you should have your wisdom teeth extracted. You know, those back molars that have caused no problems for decades because you are one of the lucky (average) souls who will never have pain or discomfort from those evil (average) bonus-molars.
Warning: if you are past 40 and visit the dentist... and the dentist says that your wisdom teeth are "worn" and "should" be pulled... ask "Dr. Feelgood" these questions, which earned me a cold stare (and immediately lost "Dr. DentistsAin'tDoctors" this particular patient):
"How worn? More than 50 percent? No? Well then, they should last me another 50 years. Fingers crossed, I last them that long. Fuck off, you quack."
Get out of the chair. Leave the office. You won't receive a bill. (you could probably even steal a toothbrush on your way out.)
(Score: 1) by d(++)b on Thursday October 12 2017, @01:07AM
Yeahhhh. I was "trolling" all the dentists on SN. :-/
At least we have this one data-point... there's a lag-time of a few days, but Big-Dentistry is watching us!
My post==pdfernhout's (nearly simultaneous) (in a nutshell) post. Mine was just as "off-topic" (but aggressive?). Mea Culpa for the OT and my verbose disposition. We both spoke truth.
(If I cared what ya'll think, I would not add this: Dear troll-modding-dentist-shill... Fuck off, you quack.)
(Hey, wait I care! So. just pretend that I did not add that. But, know that my family currently uses the toothy services of a friend from college who's an hour+ away and who would rather be my long-distance friend than her meal-ticket. She apologized for her profession when I related my story of that local duck sound effect.)
I will now quietly gum my pudding.