http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/stem-cells-could-make-root-canals-history

Scientists from the University of Nottingham and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute are looking to put an end to root canals in the future. They’re developing a new treatment strategy that will heal a damaged tooth using the patient’s own stem cells.

Though the work is still in its early stages, and has not yet been tested in people, the scientists won an award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for their idea: regenerative dental fillings.

When dental pulp disease and injury happen, a root canal is typically performed to remove the infected tissues, explained Dr. Adam Celiz, Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham.

Instead of the current dental materials used on fillings, which are toxic to cells, the new approach harnesses and stimulates one’s own stem cells instead.

“What we found is a material that can potentially regenerate components of a patients’ tooth,” Celiz told CBS News.

“We’re trying to provide an alternative material, an alternative therapy,” he said, because the current method involves the dentist removing all of the infected pulp tissue, “scraping it out, and it can be very painful.”

The process works by stimulating native stem cells inside teeth, triggering repair and regeneration of pulp tissues.

Click video link above to hear more.