Scottish families spend big in baby teeth stem cell hope

Published on Monday 30 November 2009 21:54

SCOTS families are spending thousands of pounds storing their children's baby teeth – in the hope that stem cells they provide will help to cure serious illnesses.

Hundreds of families have subscribed to a company's "scientific service" which extracts and stores the teeth in a lab.

Couples are spending 995 a time for the extraction process in the hope their children's teeth will provide healthy cells which can be used to battle a range of illnesses. UK-based company BioEden take out the teeth before they're stored for a further 95.

Jim Curtis, head of BioEden, claimed families should see the service as insurance for their children's health.

And he revealed that he intended to store his own son's teeth when they fell out.

He said: "All parents who are storing their child's teeth hope they'll never have to use them. But they can be life-saving."