Odontogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells for tooth regeneration: necessity, possibility, and...

Tooth regeneration using tissue engineering concepts is a promising biological approach to solving problems of tooth loss in elderly patients. The seeding cells, however, for tooth regeneration such as odontoblasts from dental germ, stem cells from dental pulp and deciduous teeth, and ectomesenchymal cells from the first branchial arch are difficult, even impossible to harvest in clinic. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells have odontogenic capacity, but their differentiation abilities significantly decrease with the increasing age of the donors. Therefore, the cells mentioned above are not practical in the clinical application of tooth regeneration in the old. Adipose derived stem cells have many clinical advantages over bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, and their differentiation potential can be maintained with aging. Here we propose the hypothesis that adipose derived stem cells could be induced into odontogenic lineage and might be used as suitable seeding cells for tooth regeneration to replace the lost tooth of elderly patients.