Soon, the Tooth Fairy may say good-bye to her precious toll.

An international research team has successfully regenerated tooth root and supporting periodontal ligaments, in a study aiming to restore tooth function using laboratory animals.

This could be promising for clinical application in human patients. The team utilized stem cells harvested from the extracted wisdom teeth of 18- to 20-year old patients and it has achieved sufficient root and ligament structure to bear a crown restoration in their animal model. The resulting restored teeth were very similar the original teeth in function and strength.

The stem cells were extracted from the root apical papilla, which develops the root and the periodontal ligament of the tooth. Former researches made by the same team had utilized dental pulp stem cells, but the new technique proved to be superior. "The apical papilla provides better stem cells for root structure regeneration. With this technique, the strength of the tooth restoration is not quite as strong as the original tooth, but we believe it is sufficient to withstand normal wear and tear," said Dr. Songtao Shi from USC School of Dentistry.

The technique, which could be brought to clinical trials within the next several years, gives hope for dental patients who are not appropriate candidates for dental implant therapy or would like to wear in their mouth living tissue derived from their own teeth. "Implant patients must have sufficient bone in the jaw to support the implant. For those who don't, this therapy would be a great alternative," said Shi.

In a near future, not only wisdom teeth, but milk teeth also could be used for this innovative technique. "We will be able to provide not only this technique, but other new therapies utilizing a patient's own stem cells harvested from their preserved teeth. This is a very exciting discovery and one that I hope to see in wide-spread clinical use in the near future," said Shi.