Dental Regenerative Therapy using Oral Tissues

Anti-Aging Medicine is a theoretical and practical science which aims to ensure the achievement of a long and healthy life. Dental medicine plays an important role in its practice. Given the substantial influence of dental/oral diseases on general health, the maintenance and improvement of oral function promotes not only dental/oral Anti-Aging but also systemic Anti-Aging as well.The current target of Anti-Aging dental medicine is the prevention or slowing down of the age-related decline in oral function by evaluating indicators of oral function, such as dental age, periodontal age, occlusion age, swallowing age, and salivary age. In this symposium, Dr. Kenji Mishima (Department of Dentistry, Tsurumi University), speaking on “Application of Cell Transplantation Therapy to Salivary Gland Dysfunction”, Dr. Masahiro Saito (Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science), speaking on “Role of Tooth Regeneration in Anti-Aging Medicine” and myself, Dr. Narisato Kanemura (Dental Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine), speaking on “Development of a New Periodontal Tissue Regeneration Method Aimed at Anti-Aging Use”, delivered presentations about the current status and future prospects of regenerative dentistry, which aims not only to prevent a decrease in oral function but also to restore it when function is lost, and introduced the latest in regenerative dentistry involving the salivary glands, teeth, oral mucosal epithelia, and periodontal ligaments. In addition, to describe collaboration between dental medicine and ophthalmology, Dr. Takahiro Nakamura (Faculty of Life and Medical Sciences, Doshisha University), speaking on “Current Status and Future Prospects of Corneal Regenerative Therapy using Oral Tissue”, introduced the current status and future prospects of corneal regenerative therapy using periodontal mucosal epithelium. Summaries of these lectures are presented here. In the “Dental Regenerative Therapy using Oral Tissues” symposium at the 2011 11th Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine, the experts were invited to report recent findings on maintenance.