Julia Kijowska

Vital pulp therapy (VPT) is a modern approach to conservative treatment aimed at preserving and regenerating vital dental pulp. Its success largely depends on biomaterial scaffolds that support cell migration, differentiation, and proliferation, as well as angiogenesis and dentin regeneration. An electronic database search of PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases was conducted for publications from 2015 to 2025 using the following key words: “vital pulp therapy,” “natural scaffolds,” “regene­rative endodontics,” “dental pulp regeneration,” and “pulp capping.” This paper reviews current research on select natural biomaterials used in VPT, including methacrylated gelatin, chitosan, alginate, platelet-rich fibrin, and demineralized dentin matrix. Their biological, mechanical, and antibacterial properties are discussed, alongside their potential in regenerative endodontics. Special attention is given to their biocompatibility, modifiability, and capacity for controlled bioactive agent delivery. The paper also highlights the clinical limitations of these materials, such as a lack of standardization, high costs, and technical challenges. Despite promising in vitro and in vivo results, most of these biomaterials remain in the preclinical research phase. Consequently, the need for additional clinical trials and strategies that enable their routine clinical use is emphasized.

Secondary caries remain a leading cause of restoration failure and replacement in contemporary dental practice. The aim of this paper is to review current clinical criteria guiding the decision-making process between repair and replacement of composite restorations affected by secondary caries. Additionally, the paper assesses the effectiveness of surface conditioning techniques and prepares a repair protocol for recurrent caries. The electronic database search was carried out using PubMed and Google scholar databases with the keywords: “secondary caries”, “repair”, “replacement”, “surface conditioning”, “minimally invasive dentistry”. The reference lists of selected articles were manually searched for appropriate studies. The literature search included publications from 01/01/2015 to 15/05/2025 and was limited to English language. Studies show that it is preferable to perform a repair rather than a replacement whenever possible. Surface conditioning techniques like bur roughening, air abrasion, acid etching, and the use of salinizing and adhesive agents can enhance the success of the repair method. However, evidence on how effective these methods are is less certain. When deciding between repair and replacement, clinicians should consider restoration material properties, patients caries risk, their personal experience, and the decay advancement. The currently obeyed rules of minimally invasive dentistry favour the decision of repair. Many methods of increasing the effectiveness of a restoration repair have been introduced. This study presents an exemplar repair protocol using air abrasion.

Oral cavity and lip cancers are the 16th most common cancer in the world. It is widely known that a lack of public knowledge about precancerous lesions, oral cancer symptoms, and risk factors leads to diagnostic delay and therefore a lower survival rate. Risk factors, which include drinking alcohol, smoking, HPV infection, a pro-inflammatory factor-rich diet, and poor oral hygiene, must be known and avoided by the general population. Regular clinical oral examinations should be enriched in an oral cancer search protocol for the most common symptoms, which are summarized in this review. Moreover, new diagnostic methods, some of which are already available (vital tissue staining, optical imaging, oral cytology, salivary biomarkers, artificial intelligence, colposcopy, and spectroscopy), and newly researched techniques increase the likelihood of stopping the pathological process at a precancerous stage. Well-established oral cancer treatments (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy) are continuously being developed using novel technologies, increasing their success rate. Additionally, new techniques are being researched. This review presents a novel glance at oral cancer—its current classification and epidemiology—and will provide new insights into the development of new diagnostic methods and therapies.