Stem cells from oral niches: a review.

AIM Stem cell research in recent years have been considered the most advanced sort of medical-scientific research and early results have aroused great expectations. Also in dentistry many studies were performed with the final aim of obtaining new bone and new teeth. In this work we describe the state of the art in dental science stem cell research. METHODS We have performed a web-based research on MEDLINE within (www.pubmed.gov). We have used "stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth" (24 paper found), "periodontal ligament stem cells" (32 paper found), "stem cell apical papilla" (16 paper found), "dental pulp stem cells" (136 paper found) as keywords for research. For each keyword we have performed a complete review focusing on knowledge upgrade. RESULTS For each topic was created a selection of papers in chronological order of publication date so to give a timetable of the development of the research for each niche. CONCLUSION Research about stem cell from oral niches began in 2000 and every year papers publicated were more than the precedent. This review analysed about 180 articles most of which in the last 5 years. Dentla pulp from adult as from deciduous teeth seems to be the most valuable font of stem cells due to the pluripotential type of cells.