Reader's Forum.

Abstract

Questioned by Heekyu Jung Department of Orthodontics, The Institute of Craniofacial Deformity, Yonsei University College of Dentistry, Seoul, Korea A1. Because there are few research studies available about the success rate of transplantation according to development stage of donor tooth, it’s hard to answer with scientific evidence. However, the regenerative potential of the PDL cell is high in the developing tooth, as the success rate of the transplantation has been reported to be higher in developing tooth than in fully developed tooth. So, I think further research about this topic would be valuable. Moreover, the 7-week-old rats used in this study, which are compatible with adolescents in human, have fully developed teeth with closed apex. We used the teeth of these 7-week-old rats because of their low risk of ankyloses or fracture for the reliability of experiment. We also referenced research of the precedent investigators about the age of the experiment rats.