Tooth regeneration: current status

Abstract: Recently, an anatomically correct tooth was regenerated with periodontal ligament integrated to native alveolar bone orthotopically in vivo in a rat model. Remarkably, tooth regeneration was accomplished by chemotactic homing of host endogenous cells, and without cell delivery. Cell homing is an under-recognized approach in tissue regeneration, and offers an alternative to cell-delivery-based tooth regeneration. Omission of cell isolation and ex vivo cell manipulation may accelerate regulatory, commercialization and clinical processes. The cost for tooth regeneration by cell homing is not anticipated to be a fraction of the cost for tooth regeneration by cell delivery. One of the pivotal issues in tooth regeneration is to devise economically viable approaches that are not cost-prohibitive and can translate into therapies that are competitive with dental implants. Cell-homing-based tooth regeneration appears to provide a tangible pathway towards clinical translation.