Tracey Bell clinics are located in Liverpool and Birkdale in the UK as well as Douglas Ramsey and Casletown on the Isle of Man. Precious Cells Group will work with all five clinics to educate dental professionals about stem cell banking as well as providing the services, products and infrastructure to collect, transport and store stem cells extracted from dental pulp.
Mesenchymal stem cells found in dental pulp tissue have the potential to change into different types of bodily tissue and cells such as new bone, tendon, cartilage, muscle, heart and nerve cells. Many applications for stem cells are under investigation, some which are in the advanced stages of clinical trials. Some of the applications being investigated include brain and nerve tissue, heart disease, bone regeneration, cartilage and tendon repair, treatment of burns and skin grafting. Storing one’s own stem cells avoids the agonising wait for a donor match and can provide a genetic match for close family members.
Stem cells can be harvested from teeth which have been electively extracted, for example before a child loses their milk teeth, during the removal of wisdom teeth or as a result of orthodontic surgery. As stem cells found in milk teeth are pre-natal they may now be considered as a unique resource for stem cell therapies including autologous stem cell transplantation and tissue engineering applications. Milk teeth are not extracted purely to harvest stem cells. Other sources of stem cells include umbilical cord blood and tissue, and adult blood.
Precious Cells Group is already a leading expert in the collection and cryogenic storage of stem cells from umbilical cord blood and is the exclusive partner at a growing number of NHS hospitals across the UK; this partnership with the Tracey Bell Clinic builds on its established network of dental specialist centres across the UK, providing access to the service for patients nationwide.
Doug Cochrane, UK dental manager of Precious Cells Group, said:
“It seems like every day astonishing advances for the practical use of stem cells in medicine are being discovered, some of these investigations are in advanced stages of human clinical trial with some already been approved for clinical use. The thought of using stem cells from our own body – a system of repair that has evolved over millions of years – for a future medical use by mimicking nature is simply awe inspiring. I am sure the tooth fairy won’t mind if we take one tooth and give it to the stem cell fairy. The medical profession is in agreement that stem cell technologies will become part of mainstream healthcare in the future, so our service is providing the next generation with the opportunity to prepare for this revolution.”
Tracey Bell, founder and CEO of Tracey Bell Dental, said:
“It is incredibly exciting that people are now waking up to the potential of stem cell therapies and we are delighted to be offering these services to our customers thanks to our partnership with Precious Cells Group. Through this cutting edge technology we can anticipate the future needs of our patients and help them protect themselves against unexpected illness.”