Dental pulp stem cells
Multipotent cells recoverable from the soft tissue inside a tooth — and a surprisingly accessible source for regeneration research.
Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) reside in the soft tissue at the centre of a tooth. They are multipotent — capable of differentiating along several lineages — and, importantly, they are odontogenic: they can form odontoblast-like cells and mineralised tissue resembling dentin.
Their appeal is partly practical. Extracted teeth are routine clinical waste, which makes DPSCs among the more accessible mesenchymal-type sources, without the morbidity of a marrow harvest. A related population is recoverable from exfoliated deciduous teeth — see SHED: stem cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth.
Published work shows DPSCs forming constructs closely resembling native dentin-pulp: mineralised matrix, dentinal tubule-like structures containing odontoblast-like cells, organised connective tissue, and vascular components similar to natural pulp. That is the basis of Regenerative endodontics. Their potential also extends beyond teeth into craniofacial tissue.
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