BETHESDA, April 21, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Scientists have found that stem cells from baby teeth can be used to create replacement nerve and fat cells, according to a report from UPI, meaning that cells "from a child's discarded molar could be frozen in cell banks to benefit its donor for decades."

"These cells ... are very capable of providing huge numbers of cells," says Songtao Shi, a pediatric dentist at the National Institutes of Health. Two years ago, Shi's then 6-year-old daughter lost her first baby teeth. "I'm a pediatric dentist, so naturally I was the first person to take care of it," Shi said. "Then I thought about the pulp tissue left inside. ... We were very surprised that they were that highly proliferative," Shi said of these and similar tooth cells from seven other children.

Parkinson's and Diabetes are two diseases that may eventually be treated with such cells. Biologist Anthony Mahowald, at the University of Chicago, thinks the tooth cells could be used to cultivate pancreas beta cells, "the source of insulin, or dopamine-producing cells relevant to Parkinson's disease."
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/apr/03042206.html
For UPI coverage:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030421-020416-3305r