Doctors advise parents to save their infant’s teeth since they could be a priceless asset if the youngster grows up to have a potentially fatal illness.
Jenson Wright, then 7 years old, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016, which was destroying 65% of his small body.
This was Jenson’s second cancer diagnosis; at the age of four, he was diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia. His parents were beginning to lose faith that their son would live after two rounds of treatment failed.
The illness was destroying his “body like a wildfire, so rapid, we feared the outcome would be every parent’s nightmare,” according to an old Facebook post that his mother Carolyn published.
Then a miracle occurred.
On the day of her child’s birth, a woman in Texas donated her umbilical chord, giving Jenson the gift of a future.Carolyn describes the other mother’s storage of the stem cell-rich umbilical cord for potential medical use as “a selfless act by one parent to another.”
Blood from the umbilical chord
The Mayo Clinic defines stem cells as unique cells that have the ability to “self-renew.” Through a process called differentiation, these healthy cells can also develop into “other cells that do different things.” Stem cells can develop into “brain cells, heart muscle cells, bone cells, or other cell types,” to put it another way.
The sickness inside Jenson began to be killed by the healthy new cells from the cord blood just five days after the ground-breaking procedure.
Carolyn writes about the stem cell transfusion, “What one child no longer needed, gave life to another.”
Carolyn wrote another social media post in 2019 stating that the doctors had declared that “Jenson is cured of cancer” and that he was “off the clinic list with no further follow ups required.”
Jenson is currently a 16-year-old high school student in good health.
policy for biological insurance
Researchers are currently investigating the possibility that a simple baby tooth could one day save a life.
This is the marketing pitch for tooth pulp stem cell banking, which offers parents a biological insurance policy against ailments in the future.
“Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs) are the best candidates for personal cell banking,” according to a paper published in the National Library of Medicine, and “they can be obtained less invasively in the natural process.”
Most significantly, if the cells are required to cure illness or heal damage, there is no chance of rejection because they are the donor’s own cells.
Parents can donate their child’s lost tooth to a stem cell bank, where it will be maintained for possible future medical use, rather than throwing it away.
Developing new cells
The body uses stem cells, which have the capacity to differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, as its basic resources.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a particular kind of stem cell that is present in the dental pulp of baby teeth. These cells can produce new cells, repair organs, and even regenerate damaged tissues.
Dental stem cells are obtained non-invasively, in contrast to bone marrow stem cells, which necessitate invasive treatments, or embryonic stem cells, which are contentious because of their origin. To ensure that the stem cells are viable for use in the future, the tooth is stored under carefully monitored conditions.
Is it worth the money?
Although it sounds like a game-changing possibility, there is a catch: the research is still in its infancy. Dental pulp stem cell (DPSC) research is encouraging, but practical treatments are still a ways off.
Is the investment worthwhile in light of the uncertainty? Over time, the costs associated with collection and long-term storage by private stem cell banks can mount up. Even though there is little chance that they will ever require the stem cells, some families may feel comfort in the knowledge that they have taken a preventative measure for their child’s future health.
However, public stem cell banks, such as cord blood, offer more direct medical advantages and are currently being utilized in therapeutic procedures. Investing in well-established medical choices instead of new ones may seem more sensible to parents.
How do you feel about the groundbreaking discoveries? Would you be prepared to spend money on yourself or your child to obtain this type of health insurance? Kindly share this tale and then let us know what you think so we can hear from you!
