Maleeha Nayyer, Areej Sheikh, Ayesha Aslam, Muhammad Kaleem.
Tissue Engineering - a Dental Perspective.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;59(2):75-83.

Oro-facial tissue engineering forms the basis of regenerative dentistry. A few decades ago, tissue engineering was just a coined proposition and now it is progressing rapidly towards a clinical reality. The purpose of this review was to highlight the core conceptions of tissue engineering and translate it towards its present and upcoming implications in the facial region and oral cavity. A comprehensive electronic search was carried out on PubMed, Google Scholar and Science Direct from 2000 to 2020. All articles relevant to tissue engineering in dentistry were selected including in vitro studies, comparative studies and review articles. A total of 50 articles were thoroughly appraised for the narrative review. Tissue engineering is an amalgamation of the interaction between three key components namely cells, scaffolds and signaling molecules. The focus of tissue engineering in dentistry is the regeneration of missing oral and maxillofacial tissues. Regenerative therapies can be broadly categorized as material-based and stem-cell based. In Pakistan, research on tissue engineering in dentistry is still in its preliminary phase. Attempts have successfully been made to identify and grow dental pulp stem cells from human teeth. Modified scaffolds for alveolar bone repair and regeneration have been synthesized efficiently. Tissue engineering in dentistry is an emerging field. Challenges in the growth of clinically safe and satisfactory methods for repair of oral tissues are being met effectively in spite of limited progress. Although, across the world and in Pakistan too, there is still a long way to go in this field but future of these therapies is indeed promising and with time, these procedures will become available for clinical application.

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