Tissue Engineering - A New Panorama in Periodontal Regeneration

Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease that causes pathological alterations in the teeth and their supporting tissues, potentially leading to tooth loss. Despite the remarkably high standards of professional periodontal care, incomplete adult dentitions or edentulism are still evident. Several procedures have been attempted to achieve periodontal regeneration, including root surface conditioning, bone graft placement, guided tissue regeneration (GTR). Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field which involves the application of the principles and methods of engineering and life sciences towards the fundamental understanding of structural-functional relationships in normal and pathological mammalian tissues and the development of biological substitutes that restore, maintain or improve tissue function. Advances in tissue engineering life sciences over the past twenty years have lead to various therapies for replacing, repairing, restoring or regenerating human tissues suggesting an important role of tissue engineering in regenerative technology.