Regenerative endodontics provides hope of converting the non-vital tooth into a vital one once again. It focuses on substituting traumatized and pathological pulp with functional pulp tissue. Current regenerative procedures successfully produce root development but still fail to re-establish real pulp tissue and give unpredictable results. There are several drawbacks that need to be addressed to improve the quality and efficiency of the treatment.
Some of ongoing projects under this sub-theme are being conducted currently such as the revascularization of permanent teeth with incomplete root formation and a comparative study using calcium hydroxide and iodoform paste versus Antibiotic Mix in treatment of necrotic primary teeth; preliminary results gathered are promising.
The departments of Biological and Diagnostic Sciences together with Restorative Sciences work through this research field. In the upcoming research projects, the work will be directed toward more understanding of the regenerative endodontic concept and giving solution for this issue. Regeneration of a functional pulp-dentin complex relies on the foundation of tissue engineering that can be viewed as a function of the spatially correct delivery of appropriate stem cells and growth factors embedded within a scaffold is an example of this future research work. Also, regeneration of the pulp tissue using in vitro cell-culture methods to identify key factors regulating the differentiation of odontoblast-like cells and regeneration of the pulp tissue using in vivo cell-culture methods to identify key factors regulating the differentiation of odontoblast-like cells using animal models are among other projects examples. Moreover, preclinical studies involving surgical placement of a human tooth filled with a human stem cell/growth factor/scaffold combination into immune-compromised mice followed by histologic analysis of neovascularization as well as the differentiation and mineralization activity of newly formed odontoblasts will be investigated.
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