Baby/Deciduous Teeth Wanted for Stem Cell Palace Art Project

Children in the U.K are being asked to donate their baby/milk/deciduous teeth to increase awareness of adult stem cells.

Children across Britain are being asked to donate their milk teeth to create "Palaces" -- a spectacular glittering sculpture made from crystal resin and decorated with retired pearly whites. The project is a part of an art-science collaboration that aims to inspire the nation with the regenerative potential of adult stem cells.

Artist Gina Czarnecki and stem cell biologist Professor Sara Rankin from Imperial College London hope that thousands of children will contribute to their participatory art project -- one aim of which is to raise awareness of different sources of stem cells in the body, as well as questioning contemporary belief systems that dismiss age-old myth and folklore. Along with a form to send in with one's tooth, the project website provides a token which children can leave under their pillow to inform the Tooth Fairy of their donation to her palace.

The finished artwork will resemble a coral castle under water, two metres high and two metres wide, made from donated milk teeth. It is due to go on display at the Bluecoat, Liverpool in December 2011, and at the Science Museum in London in 2012.

I am looking forward to the palaces and the research about the potential of stem cells derived from baby teeth to grow new teeth.

You can learn more at the project's website here.