Viability of human periodontal ligament cells after storage in milk or saliva

The prognosis of replantation of traumatically exarticulated teeth is very much influenced by the conditions under which the teeth have been kept before replantation. Saliva has been recommended as the most suitable storage medium but there are no studies where saliva has been compared with other possible storage media. Milk is such an easily available storage medium. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the storage effect of milk with that of saliva on human periodontal ligament cells. Milk was superior to saliva as storage medium with respect to number of viable cells, cell size, ability to recover and to heal experimentally produced wounds. The osmolality of milk seems to be the most important factor.