ATLANTA -- "Families that have children with special needs are desperately seeking answers." And one of the last places Gail Heyman ever thought to look was in her son's mouth. But there in the back, in the aptly named wisdom teeth, answers for researchers at Emory.
"Scott was not diagnosed until he was 9 years old."
Scott Heyman has Fragile X, a genetic disorder. Scott's mother Gail says, "Fragile X is the leading cause of mental impairment that is inherited."
Now 30 years old, Scott lives independently and has a job at Publix.
Dressed in shorts and sneakers and wearing a baseball hat, Scott Heyman is quick with a smile and a handshake. "I love my job." When asked what he does at his job at Publix, Scott answers, "Produce, apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, grapefruit, all that stuff."
In fact, Scott lives a most normal life, but there is one unusual part.
"I love the dentist. Yes, I do." He says it, smiling. And he loves the dentist even though, "I'm getting my wisdom teeth out today."
Scott's wisdom teeth are being removed and sent to Emory researchers.
Doctor Abtin Shahriari, an oral surgeon at Goldstein, Garber and Salama, says, "They will be using the stem cells from the dental pulp from the wisdom teeth for research on Fragile X."
Just as families bank umbilical cord blood from newborn babies, now we can bank our children's baby teeth, our own wisdom teeth. The stem cells are viable, preserved beneath the enamel. Goldstein, Garber, and Salama Dentistry is one of the few practices in Georgia that helps patients do this. Scott's stem cells are invaluable to researchers spending their careers studying Fragile X.
Gail says, "It gives our family the hope that they'll learn more about Fragile X, that there will be a way for targeted drug therapy and actually help those with Fragile X have better learning skills, better behavioral skills, just maybe to be more social."
Scott is worried. What about the tooth fairy? Mom saves the day. She asks Dr. Shahriari to write a letter to the tooth fairy which Scott will put under his pillow. It will explain the good reason the teeth are not there. Mom learns from the doctor that the going rate from the tooth fairy for four wisdom teeth is as much as 20 dollars.
Before Scott is sedated he is overwhelmed for a moment and weeps on the table but Gail is there holding his hand, kissing his forehead. She looks worried. "It's hard when you're the mom. It's hard."
The extraction is quick. All four wisdom teeth are intact, bottled up, and soon on their way to Emory. Scott will spend the night with his parents where icecream and smoothies await him.
They were a family that refused to stop searching, and because of that they were led back to their son who, all along, may have held the answer to Fragile X within him.