The rise of regenerative dentistry
In all medical specialties, including dentistry, regenerative medicine has attracted considerable interest and has been a hot topic since its inception. However, advances and innovations in basic research don’t always translate into routine clinical practice.
One of the most exciting advancements in dentistry may be dental regeneration. It focuses on using the body’s natural healing processes to restore the oral cavity’s natural function and appearance.
This might entail using stem cells to regenerate tissues like dentin, bone, and gum tissue or platelet-rich plasma therapy, which involves using the patient’s own blood plasma that has been enhanced with growth factors to promote tissue regeneration and healing.
A new and exciting area in dentistry is tissue engineering, a field that combines engineering and biological principles to restore and/or improve tissue function.
Tissue engineering has advanced significantly in dentistry as a result of the ongoing creation of new biomaterials for scaffolding and the growing understanding of the signals defining the dental niche.
Hundreds of clinical trials have been registered to wait for US Food and Drug Administration marketing approval as the majority of SC-based therapies have not yet been approved. In the coming years, gene editing, genetic reprogramming, and organoids technology all have the potential to completely transform the biomedical research field. It will also greatly enhance treatments for medical conditions with unmet medical needs.
References
Puterman I, Fien MJ, Mesquida J, Ginebreda I, Bauza G and Somerman M (2023) A perspective: Regeneration of soft and hard tissues in the oral cavity, from research to clinical practice. Front. Dent. Med 4:1242547. doi: 10.3389/fdmed.2023.1242547
y Baena, A.R., Casasco, A. & Monti, M. Hypes and Hopes of Stem Cell Therapies in Dentistry: a Review. Stem Cell Rev and Rep 18, 1294–1308 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12015-021-10326-4
Xu T, Xie K, Wang C, Ivanovski S, Zhou Y. Immunomodulatory nanotherapeutic approaches for periodontal tissue regeneration. Nanoscale. 2023 Mar 30;15(13):5992-6008. doi: 10.1039/d2nr06149j. PMID: 36896757.
Amrollahi P, Shah B, Seifi A, Tayebi L. Recent advancements in regenerative dentistry: A review. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2016 Dec 1;69:1383-90. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2016.08.045. Epub 2016 Aug 20. PMID: 27612840.
