An insight into the biomaterials used in craniofacial tissue engineering inclusive of regenerative dentistry

Abstract

Craniofacial tissue-engineered techniques have significantly improved over the past 20 years as a result of developments in engineering and in material science. The regeneration of the craniofacial tissue is frequently complicated due to the craniofacial region's complexity, which includes bone, cartilage, soft tissue, and neurovascular bundles. It is now possible to construct tissues in the lab using scaffolds, cells, and physiologically active chemicals. For bone repair/augmentation, the biomaterials are classified into natural like “collagen, fibrin, alginate, silk, hyaluronate, chitosan” and synthetic like “polyethyleneglycol, poly-e-caprolactone, polyglycolic acid” and some bioceramics “tricalcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, biphasic calcium phosphate, and the bioactive glasses” along with metals certain (Titanium and Zirconia ) and as this is part of advanced tissue engineering in dentistry there are some bioactive restorative materials like mineral trioxide aggregate and biodentine. The newer advanced techniques like 3D printed templates present a framework for achieving the three pillars of tissue engineering: healing, rebuilding and rejuvenation. The field of tissue engineering has recently become interested in 3D printing, also known as “Additive Manufacturing”, which is a ground-breaking technique that allows for the printing of patient-specific scaffolds, medical devices, multiscale, biomimetic/intricate cytoarchitecture/function-structure hierarchies and multicellular tissues in complex microenvironments. Biopolymers use is dependent on meeting the criteria for various scaffolds, including mechanical integrity, thermal stability, chemical composition, along with biological properties. Researchers have developed a revolutionary 4D bioprinting technique using cell traction forces and they are used to develop intricate dynamic structures, smart medical devices, or complex human organs.

Keywords

• bone repair
• augmentation
• scaffolds
• natural
• synthetic biomaterial
• metals
• restorative material