Zhijun Zhang

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disorder that causes irreversible damage to periodontal tissues, such as the alveolar bone, cementum, and periodontal ligament. Clinical treatments for periodontitis include non-surgical and surgical approaches, complemented by the utilization of various biomimetic materials to repair damaged tissues, a process known as periodontal tissue regeneration. Biomimetic materials have demonstrated extensive application prospects in periodontal tissue regeneration owing to their outstanding biocompatibility, controllable mechanical properties, and biomimetic microstructures. This review begins by delineating the cells used in periodontal tissue regeneration and summarizes the applications and research hot spots of commonly employed biomaterials in periodontal tissues. This further highlights the advantages of using biomimetic materials as bone substitutes, barrier membranes, and complex scaffold-manufacturing techniques. In addition, an in-depth discussion is conducted on their biological safety and physical properties. Moreover, this article summarizes the research advancements of extracellular matrix (ECM) materials in periodontal tissues, which hold great promise as highly prospective biomaterials for periodontal tissue regeneration. Finally, this article provides a comprehensive summary of the current limitations and challenges associated with the application of biomaterials in periodontal tissue regeneration. Although biomimetic materials still encounter challenges regarding stability and long-term efficacy during clinical translation, this review offers insights into the basic research and clinical treatment of periodontal regeneration.

Tissue regeneration and remineralization in teeth is a long-term and complex biological process, including the regeneration of pulp and periodontal tissue, and re-mineralization of dentin, cementum and enamel. Suitable materials are needed to provide cell scaffolds, drug carriers or mineralization in this environment. These materials need to regulate the unique odontogenesis process. Hydrogel-based materials are considered good scaffolds for pulp and periodontal tissue repair in the field of tissue engineering due to their inherent biocompatibility and biodegradability, slow release of drugs, simulation of extracellular matrix, and the ability to provide a mineralized template. The excellent properties of hydrogels make them particularly attractive in the research of tissue regeneration and remineralization in teeth. This paper introduces the latest progress of hydrogel-based materials in pulp and periodontal tissue regeneration and hard tissue mineralization and puts forward prospects for their future application. Overall, this review reveals the application of hydrogel-based materials in tissue regeneration and remineralization in teeth.

Tissue engineering is a new therapeutic strategy used to repair serious damage caused by trauma, a tumor or other major diseases, either for vital organs or tissues sited in the oral cavity. Scaffold materials are an indispensable part of this. As an extracellular-matrix-based bio-material, treated dentin matrixes have become promising tissue engineering scaffolds due to their unique natural structure, astonishing biological induction activity and benign bio-compatibility. Furthermore, it is important to note that besides its high bio-activity, a treated dentin matrix can also serve as a carrier and release controller for drug molecules and bio-active agents to contribute to tissue regeneration and immunomodulation processes. This paper describes the research advances of treated dentin matrixes in tissue regeneration from the aspects of its vital properties, biologically inductive abilities and application explorations. Furthermore, we present the concerning challenges of signaling mechanisms, source extension, individualized 3D printing and drug delivery system construction during our investigation into the treated dentin matrix. This paper is expected to provide a reference for further research on treated dentin matrixes in tissue regeneration and better promote the development of relevant disease treatment approaches.