DOTING parents will often keep their child’s first tooth – but the sentimental keepsake could actually apparently save their life one day.
This is due to the stem cells found in bone marrow, which is stored in abundance in baby teeth.
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According to the United States National Centre for Biotechnology Information the cells could possibly be used to treat any future cancer or diabetes.
They could also help grow new eye tissue and bones, even ten years after the tooth has fallen out.
Bone marrow extraction can be very painful, but as the tooth will have already removed itself from the youngster’s mouth, they wouldn’t have to go through the process.
It means if a child developed cancer before they are ten it could potentially be tackled with the stem cells stored in the tooth.
And because the teeth won’t have been used for many years before falling out, they are likely to still be in good condition.
Stem cells are able to become any cell in the body – which means scientists can use them to fight illnesses.
Earlier this year we told how a little boy from Cheshire with cancer beat the disease after a transplant of stem cells from an umbilical cord in Texas.
Jenson Wright was first diagnosed with lymphoma and leukaemia in November 2013 when he was just four-years-old.
But the cells, which had been stored frozen in Texas, began to kill the disease within five days.
And we told how brushing your teeth twice a day could slash the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
A study found experts discovered signs of the bacterium porphyromonas gingivalis, which causes gum disease and tooth loss, in the brain tissue, spinal fluid and saliva of dead and living patients.
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