BACKGROUND:Although several prosthetic methods, such as artificial denture and dental implants, are clinical therapies to tooth loss, they are thought to have safety and usage time issues. With the development of biological and biomaterial sciences, recently, tooth tissue engineering has attracted more and more attention.
OBJECTIVE:To reflect advances and problems of tissue engineering technologies for promotion of tooth regeneration.
METHODS:Using the keywords of“tissue engineering, tooth regeneration”in English and Chinese, PubMed and CNKI databases from 2007 to 2013 were retrieved. A total of 65 literatures addressing tooth regeneration and tissue engineering were col ected, including 25 Chinese articles and 40 English articles. Published early, repetitive, and similar researches were excluded. Final y, 48 articles were included.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The combination of stem cells and suitable scaffolds is widely used in tooth regeneration today, and growth factors or bone marrow which can produce promote tooth regeneration are added as wel , which has achieved partial or whole tooth regeneration. But there are apparent deficiencies in studies which focus on mechanisms behind tooth regeneration.