Millions of teeth are saved each year by root canal therapy. Although current treatment modalities offer high levels of success for many conditions, an ideal form of therapy might consist of regenerative approaches in which diseased or necrotic pulp tissues are removed and replaced with healthy pulp tissue in order to revitalize teeth.

The long term goal of this research project is to develop a method to regenerate dental pulp-like tissue as an alternative method to conventional root canal treatment. The objective of this study is to identify the methods necessary to regenerate dental pulp-like tissue in human teeth. We will collect small (~4X4mm) pieces of oral mucosa that are normally removed during surgical tooth extractions, isolate human postnatal progenitor/stem cells and, using an in vitro cell culture system, combined isolated cells with various scaffolds and test compounds to determine optimal conditions to differentiate pulp-like tissue (eg, odontoblasts, fibroblasts, endothelium, etc) grown in segments of human roots.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Pre-existing indication for surgical extraction of impacted teeth
• Age 16-65

Exclusion Criteria:

• Ages less than 16 or over 65
• No pre-existing indication for surgical extraction of impacted teeth

Patients presenting for surgical removal of impacted teeth