Academics:
Faculty, USC School of Dentistry
Graduate, USC School of Dentistry
Special Qualifications:
Fellow,
Academy of General Dentistry
Fellow, International College of
Cranio- Mandibular Orthopaedics
Fellow, International Academy of
Mini Dental Implants
Fellow, International Congress of
Oral Implantologists
Fellow, Institute for Advanced
Laser Dentistry
Conscious Sedation Permit,
Dental Board of California
Member:
Member, American Dental Association
Member, California Dental Association
Associate Member, American
Academy of Periodontology
Associate Member, Western Society
Academy of Periodontology
Member, American Academy of
Dental Sleep Medicine
Member, American Academy of
Implant Dentistry
Member, American Dental Society
of Anesthesiology
Member, American Academy of
Pain Management
Member, American Academy of
Sleep Medicine
Member, Academy of Microscope
Enhanced Dentistry
Member, Special Care Dentistry
Association
Lectures & Presentations:
San Gabriel Valley Dental Society
San Gabriel Valley Dental
Assistants Society
San Fernando Valley Dental Society
Western Dental Society
Indian Dental Society
Chinese Dental Society
Punjabi Dental Society
Academy for Excellence in Dentistry
University of Texas, Department
of Periodontics
Community Service:
SMILE TALK, KRLA
Radio Talk Show Host, KDAR
KSPA
Columnist, Around Alhambra
Columnist, Cascades
Operation Gratitude
Honors & Recognition:
Doctor of Divinity, Chinese for
Christ Theological Seminary
Lifetime Member, ADA, CDA
USC Dentistry Associates, Dean’s
Member
Recognition for Outstanding Service,
USC School of Dentistry
Radio Transcription
Ep 56: Part 2 of 3 of Dr. Chao's interview with Dr. Yang Chai. Dr. Chai's Background; Early diagnosis to prevent birth defects; Stem cells from teeth; Tissue Regeneration
Salvador Gaytan: It's time ladies and gentlemen! SmileTalk is on the air, featuring the latest news and developments in dental health, as well as other fascinating topics that make people smile. I'm Salvador Gaytan, and I'm here with?
Dr. John Chao: Dr. John Chao, hi everybody.
Salvador Gaytan: Dr. John, we have another fascinating show, because we have our special guest, Dr. Yang Chai, the Associate Dean of Research of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, and the Director of the Center of Craniofacial Molecular Biology. I love that entire title.
Dr. John Chao: It's great, and we had a great show last time, last Saturday, concerning Dr. Chai's research on cleft palate.
Salvador Gaytan: That is right.
Dr. John Chao: And we were able to talk about how that genetic problem can be treated within the uterus in the embryonic stage of the fetus, and we talked about how that applies to possible -- to human research, and how that could be the forerunner of treating diseases, not only for cleft palate problems, but for other diseases within the uterus.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right.
Dr. John Chao: It's very fascinating. But right now, we want to talk a little bit about what a fascinating background Dr. Chai has, and how he came to the United States, how he came to the USC School of Dentistry.
Salvador Gaytan: He has a fascinating background?
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, like mine. Don't you know about that?
Salvador Gaytan: Oh, like yours too?
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, but his is a lot more interesting than me.
Salvador Gaytan: Oh, I see, I see, absolutely he does have a fascinating background, because I know a little bit about it. How are you doing, Dr. Chai?
Dr. Yang Chai: Very good. Thank you for having me on your show.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely, absolutely. So, Dr. Chai, you have a very fascinating background, and you came to the United States at age 25 in 1987, is that correct, from China?
Dr. Yang Chai: Yes.
Salvador Gaytan: And you did not speak English at that point, did you?
Dr. Yang Chai: Not much at all.
Dr. John Chao: And you didn't even know how to drive, did you?
Dr. Yang Chai: No.
Salvador Gaytan: Oh my. Okay, so now…
Dr. John Chao: I didn't know how to drive either.
Salvador Gaytan: So, tell the audience a little bit about your first year, and you said it -- I guess you mentioned, it was kind of a shock getting here, and tell us a little bit about that.
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah, so I went to a medical school in Beijing, graduated from Peking University in 1984. Then, I spent three years doing my residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Peking University.
During my residency training, I had the opportunity to treat many kids with cleft lip and cleft palate, really developed my interest in craniofacial birth defects, and I decided to educate myself, and then be able to learn more about how to treat, and more importantly, how to prevent this type of congenital birth defect.
And USC School of Dentistry at that time was one of the very few universities in the U.S. that had a craniofacial biology program that offers training in basic and clinical research, and also you can get a degree, a PhD degree in craniofacial biology.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. If I may interject, craniofacial research is not new to USC, while USC has always been known to have a very, very respected clinical program that produces highly technically skilled graduates, but it also all these years, since the 80s and before that, has had a very, very deep background, a very wide background and deep background in dental science research. Isn't that true? And then you joined that program when you came to USC, didn't you?
Dr. Yang Chai: Right. So, USC had the craniofacial biology program, which basically trains clinicians and basic researchers about craniofacial birth defects. The program officially started in 1974, and was one of the earliest programs in the country.
Salvador Gaytan: Now, Dr. Chai, before we get into those details, you get here and you don't speak English. How were you able to study with English textbooks, when you didn't know English?
Dr. Yang Chai: So, we had many years of education, or we [crosstalk]. So, we learned English in college for a few years, so basically we were able to read English textbooks, but we never had the opportunity to engage in conversation with anyone.
And then, when you come to a new environment, obviously that took a lot of adjustment. We were learning how to understand people with different accents, and also the speed of their speech also varies quite a bit.
But within six months or so, I would say, I was able to get everything. At the beginning, I taped most of the lectures, and then spent a lot of time transcribing those lectures, and then trying to get all the notes right. But then after a few months, then it was just pretty straightforward.
Dr. Yang Chai: Actually my wife was already here, so she was also a graduate student at USC, and so we were both graduate students on campus. At the beginning, during the first six months it was kind of challenging, but after that we made enough friends and we were able to get around, and then other people with cars provided transportation for us to go to various places.
Salvador Gaytan: So, were you a little nervous, your wife came first? Were you absolutely certain that you were going to be able to join her?
Dr. Yang Chai: It was not that difficult. It was more than 20 years ago. At that time, China was not as open as it is today, and it took us some hard work to get the proper paperwork to leave the country and then be able to reunited in Los Angeles, but eventually we were able to do it. And it was certainly not something that I would say, "Oh, that was so hard." It was challenging, but it was doable.
Dr. John Chao: What was the most challenging aspect of your adapting to the cultural shock of coming to a totally different country?
Dr. Yang Chai: I think driving probably was the most challenging thing for me, because I had a bicycle, and I had a motorcycle back in China, and never had a car. When you live in Los Angeles, that's when you all know, you must have a car, otherwise you won't be able to get around, right?
Dr. John Chao: It must be scary to drive on the freeways and [crosstalk].
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah, and the first time someone -- actually, my PhD mentor's wife took me out on the freeway for the first time when she was teaching me how to drive, and she was very kind. She was brave enough to do that, and I was kind of terrified, because you see all the cars going by so fast. But eventually you learn, and after a couple of times, it was pretty straightforward.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. Well, when I came over in my teenage years, I didn't do too badly in school, but my one subject I could never get a good grade in, actually I got a D in, was driver's education.
Salvador Gaytan: Dr. John, I am shocked.
Dr. John Chao: That was a D; that was my only D in high school.
Salvador Gaytan: How did you get a license?
Dr. John Chao: I could never drive properly.
Salvador Gaytan: You have a valid license right now, Dr. John?
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, yeah, I do. I haven't had a ticket in 10 years, but you know…
Salvador Gaytan: A ticket in 10 years.
Dr. John Chao: No, actually five years. I did have to go to driving school one time.
Salvador Gaytan: And for anyone just tuning in, you're listening to SmileTalk with Dr. John Chao, spelled C-H-A-O. You can reach Dr. John at AlhambraDental.com.
Dr. John Chao: Or ChaoRadio.com.
Salvador Gaytan: ChaoRadio.com.
Dr. John Chao: ChaoRadio.com.
Salvador Gaytan: You're springing all these new websites on me now.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, so I'm trying to get with it. You get to learn the new technology.
Salvador Gaytan: I like it, I like it. And also by phone, 626-308-9104, and questions are welcome. Right now, we're interviewing our very special guest, Dr. Yang Chai from the USC Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, and he's the Associate Dean of Research there, as well as the Director of Craniofacial Molecular Biology. I love that title, Dr. Chai.
Dr. John Chao: Or we abbreviate it as CCMB.
Salvador Gaytan: CCMB, no, I like the full title. I'll tell you, I'm going to use that at a party on somebody.
Dr. John Chao: He's working on getting an {honorary} appointment or something.
Salvador Gaytan: Maybe, why not?
Dr. Yang Chai: You're welcome to come visit our center, and I'll be happy to give you a tour to see where we do our work.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely, I'd love that.
Dr. John Chao: Anybody in the audience is interested in this subject, they can also reach Dr. Chai at the USC website.
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah, or my email address is ychai@usc.edu.
Salvador Gaytan: That ran by me pretty quick. Why don't you repeat it again, Dr. Chai?
Dr. Yang Chai: ychai@usc.edu.
Salvador Gaytan: Excellent.
Dr. John Chao: Good, good.
Salvador Gaytan: Excellent, Dr. John. Now, a couple more personal questions before we -- you also have two daughters, about 12 and 16, is that right?
Dr. Yang Chai: That's right. My older one will be 16 in May and she's looking forward to getting her drivers permit, and pretty soon she will be driving.
Salvador Gaytan: Now, are you going to teach her to drive?
Dr. Yang Chai: She's going to attend a Triple A driving class, and then I will be there helping her to practice.
Salvador Gaytan: That should be nerve-racking, because you know what, my mother actually took me out driving one time. I think I just about scared her to death. I mean I got in that car so fast, and stopped so fast. But, so I think it's tough for parents to teach their kids how to drive.
Dr. Yang Chai: I think all her classmates, some of them are older than she is, so they already got their license, so she is very anxious to get her license.
Dr. John Chao: So, she's advanced in her grades.
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah. Or she's -- the younger one in her grades.
Dr. John Chao: I see.
Salvador Gaytan: And now you have a couple of other interests when you are not working. What are they, Dr. Chai?
Dr. Yang Chai: I like swimming, and also gardening. I know you are a golf player, and very good at it, and I tried playing golf a couple of times, and I'm just at the beginning or the learning stage.
Salvador Gaytan: Beginning, excellent.
Dr. John Chao: You'll get hooked.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right.
Dr. John Chao: You have to pretty soon choose between golfing and swimming.
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah. Gardening is actually very relaxing for me, and I can spend hours. And my younger daughter loves gardening as well. So, sometimes we spend hours just on Sunday, just working our backyard, and planting vegetables or replanting some of the flowers, and it's just really very fun.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, Dr. John, you have a yard. I mean do you think maybe you and your daughter come to Dr. John's, and do a little, right? You need some gardening, right, Dr. John?
Dr. John Chao: Well, if Dr. Chai wants to come to my garden with his daughter to plant things…
[Laughter]
Salvador Gaytan: Because I'm going to tell you right now, Dr. John is not a gardener, okay?
Dr. John Chao: I don't know how to dig.
Salvador Gaytan: He could use some flowers, couldn't you?
Dr. John Chao: I can use plenty of flowers in my yard. But what do you grow? Do you grow vegetables that you eat yourselves or do you grow flowers? What do you grow?
Dr. Yang Chai: We have different types of flowers, and also some plants, and also in the summertime I like to grow tomatoes and basil and just some simple vegetables for fun.
Dr. John Chao: Are you going to grow any special plants to treat cleft palate and enhance your research?
Dr. Yang Chai: Not yet, not yet.
Salvador Gaytan: Now, just one question I had. Our previous show, we talked about cleft palates and how you're going to be able to maybe prevent that from happening in the uterus. Now, my question that came to me is, if a pregnancy is nine months, at what stage would you be able to intervene?
Dr. Yang Chai: So, from our research, what we hope to do is to provide more precise information for physicians to be able to do early diagnosis, and also to prevent birth defects such as cleft palate. So, that would be a similar approach as women who are now taking vitamins during their pregnancy, and to prevent certain type of birth defects, such as neural tube defects.
Salvador Gaytan: So, that would just be a general treatment for all women or just some women that are screened?
Dr. Yang Chai: For women who are screened with certain type of genetic mutation, and then we will provide this type of potential treatment that will help to prevent the development of cleft palate.
Salvador Gaytan: Interesting, interesting. Well, then getting down to the second topic that you brought up, Dr. John.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, the second topic is also very fascinating, and this has to do with one of your colleagues, Dr. Shi, right? And this has to do with getting stem cells from teeth. Would you talk a little bit about that, Dr. Chai?
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah. So, my colleague Dr. Songtao Shi, who was trained originally as a pediatric dentist, and then trained in craniofacial biology, so he became a researcher; a few years ago, his daughter had lost a baby tooth, and she brought it to him.
So, under that exfoliated baby tooth, Dr. Shi found this little bit of a red soft tissue. So, he was working, at that time, at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. So, he was working on stem cells, and he thought maybe I can isolate some stem cells from exfoliated baby teeth, then that way I would be able to bank these cells.
So, next time his daughter lost another baby tooth, she brought it to him, and then he rushed to the lab where he was able to take this remaining part of tissue from baby tooth, and then he was able to identify some stem cells from this baby tooth.
And now, he has shown not only you can get stem cells from exfoliated baby teeth, you can also get that from the extracted third molars or wisdom teeth. You can also get that from your gum or from your periodontal ligaments or many other places within the oral cavity, where you will be able to get stem cells.
Dr. John Chao: So, looking at the baby tooth, he was able to start a whole new field of research in stem cells and tissue engineering. Now, the potential of these stem cells is what, Dr. Chai?
Dr. Yang Chai: So, stem cells are now a very hot topic, because people are interested in tissue regeneration. So, if you are missing part of your limb or part of your face, because of cancer or some other surgical procedures, you wanted to be able to replace that with your own tissue, not some artificial product.
So, the only way to re-grow part of our body is to use stem cells. Stem cells are very special. They have the ability to multiply themselves, and then be able to develop into any cell type that you want them to become.
So, this type of research will help us to regenerate body parts or replenish nerve cells that have died, because of certain disease. So, then you will be able to regain your function.
Dr. John Chao: So, you can actually put this into cold storage for possible use later on.
Salvador Gaytan: I like the way he said it, "bank it."
Dr. John Chao: Bank it.
Salvador Gaytan: It was bit like a deposit for your…
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, it's like a cryogenic bank, right. It's cold, it's frozen in nitrogen, and this could be kept indefinitely, you said?
Dr. Yang Chai: Right. So, when you get these stem cells, you basically lower the temperature, extremely low temperature in liquid nitrogen. Then, these cells will basically go to sleep, and when the time comes, you say you want to regenerate part of the tooth, let's say a root.
And then you take these cells out, you warm them up, you basically wake them up again, and at this time, you know how to direct these cells to become part of the root, how to form dentin, how to form part of the coverage on the root. So, that way you will be able to build a part of tooth or part of other body that you wanted to make.
Dr. John Chao: So, it could be a tooth. It could be any other part of a body.
Dr. Yang Chai: Absolutely.
Dr. John Chao: When tissue engineering has advanced in the future.
Dr. Yang Chai: Yes, right.
Dr. John Chao: So, that's something that we believe that Dr. Shi also accepts these stem cells from teeth.
Dr. Yang Chai: So, he has a very limited operation to store some of these exfoliated baby teeth or stem cells extracted from these exfoliated baby teeth.
Dr. John Chao: Okay. If somebody wants to get in touch with Dr. Shi, is there a website?
Dr. Yang Chai: Or his email address. songtaos@usc.edu
Salvador Gaytan: His email address -- and just for anyone tuning in, you're listening to SmileTalk with Dr. John Chao from AlhambraDental.com or ChaoRadio.com.
Dr. John Chao: C-H-A-O Radio.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right, ChaoRadio.com.
Dr. John Chao: Dot com. It rhymes, ChaoRadio.com.
Salvador Gaytan: That's pretty good, that is excellent, Dr. John, or 626-308-9104. And the email for Dr. Shi is songtaos@usc.edu, and so you were saying [crosstalk]. And you were saying, Dr. Chai, that Dr. Shi has limited resources right now to bank stem cells from people.
Dr. John Chao: From people's baby teeth. Baby teeth, or even wisdom teeth.
Salvador Gaytan: Is it just teeth?
Dr. Yang Chai: Yeah. At this point, yeah. And he actually has -- if you contact him, he can direct you to a commercial company, where they actually have a service to bank these…
Salvador Gaytan: So, this is cutting edge. How long has this been available?
Dr. Yang Chai: Oh, just very recent, in the last few years.
Salvador Gaytan: So, futuristic, everyone, every individual would bank some stem cells and later they could be used maybe to regenerate teeth, maybe other limbs.
Dr. Yang Chai: Or kidney or any other organs.
Dr. John Chao: And maybe it can get more advanced, you can take some stem cells from your baby tooth or wisdom teeth, and then you can ingest it, and all of a sudden you can play better golf.
Salvador Gaytan: Now, I would like that.
Dr. John Chao: Right, that's the commercial application of stem cell technology that we can look forward to.
Salvador Gaytan: That is right.
Dr. Yang Chai: So, that would be both the genetic background and also your training. So, you have to combine both.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. I would like to get a hold of Tiger Woods' wisdom tooth, and then maybe bank it and maybe I can use it -- maybe you can use it. All of a sudden, you can putt better.
Salvador Gaytan: No, if you could find like the genes for a specific sport that makes someone perform better, that's a sport like golf, who knows?
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, Tiger Woods for golf.
Dr. Yang Chai: I don't think that exists, but you certainly -- we have to remember the years of training that Tiger Woods went through, and then that also made him very special.
Dr. John Chao: That's true, yeah. All of a sudden, you should be careful, because you start taking his stem cells, maybe you'll become a womanizer.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, I don't want to do that. But I'll take the…
Dr. John Chao: Maybe you got to take the good with the bad.
Salvador Gaytan: But I'll take his golfing ability, that's for darn sure. He's going to play at the Masters for the first time, coming up in a couple of weeks, that he hasn't played in six months. So, we're going to see how he does. We're going to find out.
Dr. John Chao: We're going to see how his genes are going to work, if he can overcome his genetic weaknesses.
Salvador Gaytan: After a long layoff.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah.
Salvador Gaytan: Now, Dr. Chai, when was the last time that you hit golf balls?
Dr. Yang Chai: About three months ago.
Salvador Gaytan: Three months ago, okay.
Dr. Yang Chai: With my daughter, so when she was learning how to play.
Salvador Gaytan: Well, we have to have a putting contest between you and Dr. Chao. He has his own putter, he's a good putter.
Dr. Yang Chai: Oh, very good.
Dr. John Chao: Well, I'm not sure I'm a good putter, but I enjoy it. In moments, I can concentrate. Like I say this is a cavity, I'm going to get the cavity filled, and then sometimes I can putt better, when I'm thinking -- have that mindset.
Salvador Gaytan: That's the mindset to have for putting.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah. So, let's go back.
Salvador Gaytan: We're coming to the last few seconds of our show, it's been a fantastic show. I think we still have -- we have another big topic to cover.
Dr. John Chao: Yeah, we got to have Dr. Chai come back and do one more show with us.
Salvador Gaytan: Absolutely. We're not letting him go, are we? We're going to make him come back.
Dr. John Chao: Come back and do one more.
Salvador Gaytan: That's right. So, are you game for that, Dr. Chai?
Dr. Yang Chai: Sure.
Salvador Gaytan: Okay, excellent. Well, we're coming to the last few seconds, we've had a great show. You've been listening to SmileTalk with Dr. John Chao of AlhambraDental.com or ChaoRadio.com, spelled C-H-A-O Radio dot com or 626-308-9104, and we've been entertained by Dr. Yang Chai, the director of the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC, and it's been a pleasure having you, Dr. Chai.
Dr. John Chao: Thanks Dr. Chai.
Dr. Yang Chai: Thank you for having me. It really has been a pleasure.
Salvador Gaytan: Next week everybody.
Dr. John Chao: Goodbye.
[END OF AUDIO]
