Regenerative medicine has always played an important role in the field of dentistry. In endodontics, for several decades, dentine regeneration has been induced by application of a calcium hydroxide preparation over inflamed pulp tissue in carious teeth. Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) was developed recently as a novel periodontal therapy, allowing regeneration of periodontal tissue
without the use of cells or growth factors through the creation of space. While operative procedures have thus been established for partial tissue regeneration, research into regeneration of the whole tooth is still in the initial stage.
Using lasers to regenerate and grow body parts sounds like science fiction, but researchers have just demonstrated that it might be a transformative tool in medicine — or at least dentistry.
Teeth in the developmental stage were shown to have the ability to regenerate a tooth once again, and this discovery marked the start of tooth regeneration research. Recently, it was further discovered that a new tooth can be regenerated from an extracted tooth, but there still remain many issues to be solved before its clinical application. Nonetheless, technology to regenerate teeth from cells will probably be established in the near future, because the issues which should be solved are becoming clear.
The ultimate goal of regenerative therapy is to develop fully functioning bioengineered organs that can replace organs lost or damaged due to disease, injury or aging. Dental regenerative medicine has made the most progress and is the most useful model for the consideration of strategies in future organ replacement therapies.