Updates in regenerative medicine applied to dental sciences

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are found in high concentrations in several tissues, such as umbilical cord, adipose tissue and dental tissue. Dental stem cells reside in many areas of the oral cavity. Thanks to their abilities, dental stem cells could be used to treat diseases and to understand the basic mechanisms of developmental pathologies. There are currently numerous ongoing clinical trials evaluating a broad spectrum of conditions and situations using different stem cell populations. However, stem cell studies are raising profound ethical questions that weigh on the world of scientific research. Stem cells are always a hot topic in the scientific community. Their use is related also to their banking, as cell manipulation is also often related to medical and ethical issues. Many biomedical studies aim to treat diseases that were previously considered incurable with MSCs. All this has created the need to quickly and safely storage stem cells, usually in a stem cell biobank (SCB). Regenerative medicine is the most important approach for achieving complete tissue regeneration using stem cells isolated from adult tissues, embryonic stem cells, but also through the application of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). iPSCs are non-pluripotent cells that are engineered to acquire the ability to differentiate into all different types of cells. In conclusion, the daily use of stem cells in regenerative procedures is still far from being safe and predictable, especially because of the biomedical component, often requiring experienced biologists and complex technologies for cell manipulation and cell banking.