Dental tissue engineering: Future of regenerative dentistry

Dental caries, periodontitis, tooth loss, and bone resorption are considered prevalent health problems that have a direct effect on the quality of life. Unlike other tissues in the body, dental tissues are unique in their development, function, and even in their maintenance throughout life. Tissue engineering is a novel and exciting field that aims to recreate functionally healthy tissues and organs to replace diseased, dying, or dead tissues. To accomplish pulpal regeneration after tooth injury is not easy because the infected pulp requires either root canal therapy or tooth extraction. Currently, an ideal form of therapy might consist of regenerative approaches in which diseased or necrotic pulp tissues are removed and replaced with healthy pulp tissue to revitalize teeth. This article describes various components of tissue engineering, its applications, challenges, and future directions that can be integrated into clinical dental therapies to restore and regenerate oral tissues which will allow regenerative dentistry to become a reality in near future.