Dental Pulp Stem Cells for Salivary Gland Regeneration-Where Are We Today?

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Xerostomia is the phenomenon of dry mouth and is mostly caused by hypofunction of the salivary glands. This hypofunction can be caused by tumors, head and neck irradiation, hormonal changes, inflammation or autoimmune disease such as Sjögren's syndrome. It is associated with a tremendous decrease in health-related quality of life due to impairment of articulation, ingestion and oral immune defenses. Current treatment concepts mainly consist of saliva substitutes and parasympathomimetic drugs, but the outcome of these therapies is deficient. Regenerative medicine is a promising approach for the treatment of compromised tissue. For this purpose, stem cells can be utilized due to their ability to differentiate into various cell types. Dental pulp stem cells are adult stem cells that can be easily harvested from extracted teeth. They can form tissues of all three germ layers and are therefore becoming more and more popular for tissue engineering. Another potential benefit of these cells is their immunomodulatory effect. They suppress proinflammatory pathways of lymphocytes and could therefore probably be used for the treatment of chronic inflammation and autoimmune disease. These attributes make dental pulp stem cells an interesting tool for the regeneration of salivary glands and the treatment of xerostomia. Nevertheless, clinical studies are still missing. This review will highli

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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