Chew On This: Penn Dental Study Gives New Hope For Healing Skin Wounds
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Your mouth might hold the key to faster wound healing for the rest of your body. That's the takeaway from a study by local researchers.
Stem cells in gum tissue release proteins that appear to help repair cuts about twice as fast as seen in skin.
Researchers from Penn Dental Medicine say there's also reduced scarring.
Among the proteins is an anti-inflammatory that the researchers say significantly accelerated healing when tested on mice.
They believe the gum cell find may lead to new treatments for those who suffer from complications of skin wounds related to diabetes and autoimmune diseases.
The study appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
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