When we were on the verge of welcoming our first baby into our home, we had a lot of decisions to make, like how to paint the nursery and which crib to buy, but there was one decision that seemed a lot more important to consider for our child’s future.
That decision was whether or not to do cord blood banking which would save the stem cells for future use. The stem cells from the cord blood would be sent to a facility where it would be stored in case our child ever needed it, like to treat a disease like cancer or to even regrow tissue or bones.
The downside to cord blood banking is the cost. It’s a large upfront fee with yearly fees to keep the cord blood at the facility, and with being a fairly new technology, it can seem unnecessary or even a little bizarre to consider.
Cord blood banking is also a decision that parents need to make and prepare for before going into labor. If mom goes into labor early and the parents haven’t prepared for cord blood banking, it’s usually too late.
If you missed the boat on banking your child’s cord blood but if your child has yet to lose his or her baby teeth, it turns out you have another important decision to consider. You can now bank your child’s baby teeth in a similar way to cord blood. Baby teeth contain a lot of stem cells, and since children lose their baby teeth anyway, it’s actually even easier and less expensive to do.
The downside is banking baby teeth makes it impossible for your child to put his or her baby teeth under their pillow for the tooth fairy. You can’t just wait for the baby teeth to fall out on their own and keep them in a plastic bag or storage box. You actually have to have your child’s dentist remove the loose baby teeth and send them to a facility that properly extracts the stem cells and stores the baby teeth.
Similar to cord blood banking, these baby teeth storage facilities charge an upfront fee with an annual fee to keep the teeth banked. Considering the stem cells from these teeth could one day save your child’s life, it could be a small price to pay.
For more information about saving baby teeth for stem cell use, watch the video below.
Would you consider banking your child’s baby teeth? Do you think they’d miss getting a visit from the tooth fairy?