Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

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International Sales Manager Christiane Ferret c.ferret@dtstudyclub.com Dental Tribune America, LLC 116 West 23rd Street, Suite 500 New York, NY 10011 Tel.: (212) 244-7181 Fax: (212) 244-7185 Published by Dental Tribune America © 2011 Dental Tribune America, LLC All rights reserved. Dental Tribune strives to maintain the utmost accuracy in its news and clini- cal reports. If you find a factual error or content that requires clarification, please contact Group Editor Robin Goodman at r.goodman@dental-tribune.com. Dental Tribune cannot assume respon- sibility for the validity of product claims or for typographical errors. The pub- lisher also does not assume responsibility for product names or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Dental Tribune America. Dr. Joel Berg Dr. L. Stephen Buchanan Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci Dr. Gorden Christensen Dr. Rella Christensen Dr. William Dickerson Hugh Doherty Dr. James Doundoulakis Dr. David Garber Dr. Fay Goldstep Dr. Howard Glazer Dr. Harold Heymann Dr. Karl Leinfelder Dr. Roger Levin Dr. Carl E. Misch Dr. Dan Nathanson Dr. Chester Redhead Dr. Irwin Smigel Dr. Jon Suzuki Dr. Dennis Tartakow Dr. Dan Ward Editorial Board DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · US Edition News DENTAL TRIBUNE | May 20112A f DT page 1A, CONCERT personality.” Her goal, as an instruc- tor, is “to try and help the kids be well-rounded.” The event ended with an awards ceremony, and Masotti along with all of the performers, were given flowers and a certificate of achieve- ment for their efforts. RADA set out to show the kids that they were spe- cial and wanted to award them for helping to make a difference in their community. They hope to have simi- lar shows in the future to improve upon their already highly success- ful Oral Cancer/Tobacco Cessation Project. The day before the concert on the other side of the river in New Jersey, Dr. Gwen Brown led the free screen- ings, where she performed tests for HPV, oral cancer and the full-range of oral pathology services for 35 patients. She worked through the day until nightfall, filling out medi- cal records. Brown gave her greatest efforts, just as the kids who played; the par- ents and families who came out and showed their support; Masotti, who trained the talented pianists,;and RADA President Sumareva and the rest of her staff, who continue to make a wonderful contribution to the community. DT (Source: Russian American Dental Association) of Dental Research (JDR) that they had used stem cells to grow teeth in mice.3 The stem cells used in that work were not human dental stem cells but rather mouse embry- onic stem cells and bone-marrow- derived stem cells. Even so, as the editor of JDR said in a commentary, “Clearly, the future for regenerative and tissue-engineering application to dentistry is one with immense potential, capable of bringing quan- tum advances in treatment for our patients.”4 Later Dr. Sharpe and his team received the William J. Gies Award for best paper published in JDR that year in the category of bio- materials and bioengineering. Sharpe has noted the particular advantages that human dental stem cells offer in taking this research further: Unlike human embryonic stem cells, they are plentiful and raise no ethical issues — a poten- tial source becomes available every time a dentist or dental surgeon pulls a loose baby tooth or a molar; unlike bone-marrow stem cells, dental stem cells do not require an additional invasive procedure to obtain; and dental stem cells can be preserved for the donor’s own use, eliminating the chance of rejection if used later for the donor. Although experiments in grow- ing new teeth remain early-stage research, other applications of den- tal stem cells have already been demonstrated in human studies. These cells have been successfully used to regrow jawbone and treat periodontal disease. Moreover, leading-edge research in regenerative dentistry fosters progress in regenerative medicine as well. Teeth, unlike, say, the pan- creas or the heart, are readily acces- sible, making it relatively easy to do procedures that demonstrate gen- eral principles in organ restoration. As Sharpe once quipped, “Patients just have to come in and open their mouths.” DT References 1. “The rodent incisor mesenchy- mal stem cell niche.” 2. “Oral Health Resources,” 2008, National Center for Chronic Dis- ease Prevention and Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and “Oral Health, U.S., 2002,” produced by the CDC and the Nation- al Institutes of Health. These data derive from various sur- veys conducted in prior years. “Oral Health, U.S., 2002” defines the functional dentition of 21 as enough “to eat, speak, and socialize without active disease, discomfort, or embarrassment” without need of dentures. A full set of adult teeth numbers 32. 3. Ohazama A, Modino SA, Miletich I, Sharpe PT. Stem-cell-based tissue engineering of murine teeth. J Dent Res. 2004;83:518– 522. 4. Smith AJ. Tooth tissue engi- neering and regeneration — a translational vision! J Dent Res. 2004;83:517. (Source: PRWEB) ners. One student, Anushka Pillay, showed the crowd her drawing for this year’s contest before perform- ing her number. Yelena Masotti, who owns YM Stu- dios and teaches all of the students, was very pleased with the event. “It went quite well. Kids enjoy playing for a good cause,” she said. “The practice of and love for music can bring good to the planet.” Her stu- dents have played for Kids Against Cancer and participate in numer- ous competitions, but this was the first time they had collaborated with RADA. Masotti has been giving lessons to children in the New York area for 25 years and teaches music history and musical theater. Although many of the songs performed were clas- sical, the teacher said she “bases the music [the kids learn] on their shorter compositions and the middle and high school aged musicians per- forming longer and more compli- cated pieces. It was clear that all the students, no matter what their level of profi- ciency, had worked hard and dili- gently studied their craft in order to perform pieces by some of the greatest composers of all time. Even though the audience was filled with a large amount of young children, everyone sat quietly and listened attentively throughout the show. Each pianist received enthusiastic applause and accolades. In addition to hearing some fan- tastic music, the audience received last year’s Kids 4 Kids Anti-Smoking Drawing Contest booklet, which included artwork from the 2010 win- Tell us what you think! Do you have general comments or criticism you would like to share? Is there a particular topic you would like to see more articles about? Let us know by e-mailing us at feedback@dental-tribune.com. If you would like to make any change to your subscription (name, address or to opt out) please send us an e-mail at database@dental-tribune.com and be sure to include which publication you are referring to. Also, please note that subscription changes can take up to 6 weeks to process. tooth “bud” or “primordium” of stem cells placed into an incision in the gum. He was among the invited speak- ers at the first International Confer- ence on Dental and Craniofacial Stem Cells, held in April in New York City. There he discussed his most recent research into the niches in tooth pulp where stem cells reside.1 “In the future we envision,” explained Sharpe, “a patient who loses a tooth and wants a replace- ment will be able to choose between current methods and a biological- based implant — a new natural tooth — derived from the patient’s own dental stem cells.” Notwithstanding steady progress in the prevention and treatment of dental disease, the toothless and those lacking some or most of their teeth still make up a huge popula- tion. According to dental health sur- veys, about 70 percent of adults in the United States have lost at least one tooth; about 58 percent of those aged 50 and older have fewer than the 21 teeth considered “function- al dentition;” and about 18 percent aged 65 or older have no natural teeth at all.2 To be sure, it will be some years before there is no one removing a mouthful of dentures at night to place them in a cup on the bed- side table. Yet the work of Sharpe and other investigators has brought another option into view. In 2004, for example, he and his colleagues reported in the Journal f DT page 1A, STEM CELLS