SHED: stem cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth
A stem cell population recovered from baby teeth — younger, faster-proliferating, and ethically uncomplicated.
SHED — stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth — are recovered from the pulp of baby teeth that fall out naturally. Compared with DPSCs from permanent teeth, they generally proliferate faster and show a somewhat different differentiation profile, consistent with their younger origin.
Their practical attraction is the sourcing. The tissue is discarded anyway and collection involves no procedure at all, which sidesteps both the donor-site morbidity of a marrow harvest and the ethical complexity attached to embryonic sources — a constraint that iPSCs address by a very different route.
Like other mesenchymal-type populations, much of their studied benefit may lie less in becoming new tissue than in what they secrete — see Exosomes and the secretome. Their applications are studied in Regenerative endodontics and Craniofacial tissue engineering.
Related articles
- DentalDental pulp stem cellsMultipotent cells recoverable from the soft tissue inside a tooth — and a surprisingly accessible source for regeneration research.
- CellsMesenchymal stem cellsThe most widely studied cells in regenerative medicine — and a reassessment of what they actually do.
- CellsExosomes and the secretomeCell-free therapy: using what stem cells secrete rather than the cells themselves.
- DentalCraniofacial tissue engineeringRebuilding the bones and soft tissue of the face and jaw, where function and appearance are inseparable.
- DentalThe dentin-pulp complexWhy dentin and pulp are treated as one functional unit, and what makes rebuilding it so difficult.
- DentalRegenerative endodonticsRestoring a tooth's living pulp rather than replacing it with filling material — promise and present limits.