Should deciduous teeth be preserved in adult patients? How about stem cells? Is it reasonable to preserve them?
When seeking orthodontic treatment, many adolescents and adult patients present with deciduous teeth. Naturally, deciduous teeth will inevitably undergo exfoliation at the expected time or at a later time. Apoptosis is the biological trigger of root resorption. In adult patients, deciduous teeth should not be preserved, as they promote: infraocclusion, traumatic occlusion, occlusal trauma, diastemata and size as well as morphology discrepancy malocclusion. Orthodontic movement speeds root resorption up, and so do restoring or recontouring deciduous teeth in order to establish esthetics and function. Deciduous teeth cells are dying as a result of apoptosis, and their regeneration potential, which allows them to act as stem cells, is limited. On the contrary, adult teeth cells have a greater proliferative potential. All kinds of stem cell therapies are laboratory investigative non authorized trials.
Full professor, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Undergraduate program, Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil and Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Graduate program, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil., Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade de São Paulo, Bauru São Paulo , Brazil.
Alberto
A
Consolaro
D000328:Adult; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000379:methods*; D010513:Periodontal Ligament / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012391:Root Resorption / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D014081:Tooth Extraction; D014087:Tooth Movement Techniques; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology