Role of Dental Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine

Stem cell therapy has a promising future for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However stem cell technology is still in its infancy, interdisciplinary co-operation is needed to achieve successful clinical applications. Dental stem cells have drawn attention in recent years because of their accessibility, plasticity and high proliferative ability. Several types of dental stem cells have been identified, which include those derived from adult human dental pulp, primary exfoliated deciduous teeth, periodontal ligament, dental follicle and permanent third molars. Similar to mesenchymal stem cells, they also undergo self renewal and have multipotent differentiation ability, but do not have the ethical issues associated with the other sources of stem cells. This review describes about the potential of different types of dental stem cells.