If it is possible to preserve and culture cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth in a readily available storagemedium within each family, more stem cells would be obtained. This research is about the effect of storage mediaand time on pulpal cell viability of exfoliated deciduous teeth.
330 exfoliated deciduous teeth were randomly divided into 11 groups; fresh group, dry group, groups stored incell culture medium (2, 4, 7 days each), in milk (2, 4, 7 days each), and in saline (2, 4, 7 days each). Primaryculture of pulpal cells was conducted in each group and the success rates were compared by calculating thenumber of teeth with viable cells.
The result of primary culture shows that the success rate decreases as the time of storage gets longer. Therewas no statistical difference between groups stored in the cell culture medium, milk, and saline for 2 and 4days. However, the groups stored in milk and saline for 7 days showed dramatic decrease in success rate comparedto the group stored in the cell culture medium.
In conclusion, exfoliated or extracted deciduous teeth can be used to culture pulpal cells when they are storedin milk and saline for a certain period of time; however obtaining viable pulpal cells becomes harder as the storagetime gets longer.