Tissue Engineering for Maxillofacial Defect Reconstruction: Strategies, Applications, and Future Directions

Defects in the maxillofacial region are still facing great challenges, and autologous tissue transplantation, which is the gold standard, may often lead to inevitable complications. The rapid development of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has provided fresh ideas in this field. In this review, we summarize the characteristics of tissue engineering for defects in the maxillofacial region, targeting material selection and design of scaffolds, types of growth-promoting substances and strategies of delivery, multiple stem cells, emerging extracellular vesicles, and related preclinical experimental analyses. Extremely importantly, we provide a detailed overview of relevant clinical studies. We also discuss the outcomes and challenges that have been emerged in the current clinical direction in the context of current research, which will greatly facilitate the clinical translation of tissue engineering techniques for defects in the maxillofacial region. Finally, we also provide directions for researchers through future perspectives.