Health Care & Insurance  September 4, 2019

Dr. harvests stem cells from teeth

BOULDER — Patients who take advantage of a new service offered by Boulder Oral Surgery are betting that the Tooth Fairy has a little bit more to offer than a couple of quarters in exchange for their wisdom teeth.

Boulder Oral Surgery’s Dr. Terry Nedbalski recently began working with California-based startup Stemodontics Inc. to give young patients the option of harvesting stem cells from their wisdom teeth when they’re removed. The hope is that these stem cells will be useful in the future for the treatment of a host of ailments.

“These stem cells, particularly when they’re harvested from a younger person, have the potential to be used for a number of medical applications,” Stemodontics co-founder Ophir Klein told BizWest. “It kind of serves as an insurance policy for therapeutic needs down the road.”

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“We’re still at the very beginning of starting to understand this kind of regenerative medicine,” he said, but potential applications include bone repair, organ regeneration and immune function improvement.

Nebalski said he is particularly excited about the potential for new treatments of neurological issues such as Parkison’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

Nedbalski has been working with Stemodontics for the better part of 2019 to collect, freeze in liquid nitrogen and store the stem cell material.

“The concept of being able to bank something that could help heal you or save your life down the line is so interesting to me,” Nebalski said.

Stem cells harvested from wisdom teeth may prove helpful in developing therapies for bone repair, organ regeneration and immune function improvement. Courtesy Stemodontics

Traditionally, pulp material from within wisdom teeth was considered medical waste and discarded. Wisdom teeth are particularly rich in stem cells as compared to baby teeth simply because wisdom teeth are much larger.

“They’re easily accessible because so many people have their wisdom teeth removed and they’re a pretty good bet when it comes to long-term storage,” Klein said.

While doctors and patients have been aware of the potential benefits of stem cell therapies for years, the concept of harvesting the cells from wisdom teeth is a relatively new one.

“It really hasn’t been on people’s radar, but we are in a ramp up phase now,” Klein said.

For patients who elect to bank their stem cells, the wisdom tooth removal process is no different than it would be if the teeth were going to be discarded, Nedbalski said.

“Nothing changes from a surgical standpoint,” he said. “Not a thing.”

Parents who missed out on the opportunity to bank their newborn’s umbilical cord stem cells are among the groups most excited about this new technology, Nedbalski said.

“They’re really jazzed to be able to have a second chance,” he said.

Boulder is a good market to roll out the stem cell banking concept because patients are especially interested in new and innovative treatments and medical technologies, Nedbalski said.

“As far as I know, we’re the only practice in town doing it, so our patients view it as a value-added proposition,” he said.

If patients harvest their wisdom teeth stem cells, how long will they have to wait until therapies are developed to utilize their benefits? “That’s the million dollar — well, multi-million dollar — question on everyone’s minds,” Klein said.

He speculated: “I’d say by the end of the next decade we’re going to see a huge increase in the number of potential uses. There’s a huge amount of activity — every week there are new studies and new papers coming out and every year our expectations increase.”

BOULDER — Patients who take advantage of a new service offered by Boulder Oral Surgery are betting that the Tooth Fairy has a little bit more to offer than a couple of quarters in exchange for their wisdom teeth.

Boulder Oral Surgery’s Dr. Terry Nedbalski recently began working with California-based startup Stemodontics Inc. to give young patients the option of harvesting stem cells from their wisdom teeth when they’re removed. The hope is that these stem cells will be useful in the future for the treatment of a host of ailments.

“These stem cells, particularly when…

Lucas High
A Maryland native, Lucas has worked at news agencies from Wyoming to South Carolina before putting roots down in Colorado.
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