Review Article
Role of stem cells in tooth bioengineering

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ABSTRACT

The creation of teeth in the laboratory depends upon the manipulation of stem cells and requires a synergy of all cellular and molecular events that finally lead to the formation of tooth-specific hard tissues, dentin, and enamel. This review focuses on the different sources of stem cells that have been used for making teeth in vitro. The search was performed from 1970 to 2012 and was limited to English language papers. The keywords searched on medline were ‘stem cells and dentistry,’ ‘stem cells and odontoblast,’ ‘stem cells and dentin,’ and ‘stem cells and ameloblasts.’

Section snippets

INTRODUCTION

Loss of tooth is a common and frequent situation that can result from numerous pathologies such as periodontal and carious diseases, fractures, injuries, or even genetic alterations. Recent efforts made in the field of biomaterials have led to the development of dental implants that can be inserted in the maxillary or mandibular bone to replace the missing teeth. However, implants are still not completely satisfactory and their successful use greatly depends on their osteointegration.1

MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS

Mesenchymal stem cell can give rise to mature cell types that have characteristic morphologies and specialized functions. First described in the bone marrow,8 MSCs have been extensively characterized in vitro by the expression of markers such as STRO-1, CD146, or CD44.9 STRO-1 is a cell surface antigen used to identify osteogenic precursors in the bone marrow, CD146 a pericyte marker, and CD44 a MSC marker. Mesenchymal stem cells possess a high self-renewal capacity and the potential to

EPITHELIUM-ORIGINATED DENTAL STEM CELLS

Although, significant progress has been made with MSC, there is no information available for dental EpSC in humans. The major problem is that dental epithelial cells such as ameloblasts and ameloblasts precursors are eliminated soon after tooth eruption. Therefore, epithelial cells that could be stimulated in vivo to form enamel are not present in the human adult teeth. Stem cell technology appears to be the only possibility to re-create an enamel surface.

CONCLUSION

Thorough understanding of the cellular and molecular events involved in development, repair, and regeneration of teeth is necessary. Identification of several types of epithelial and MSCs in the tooth and the knowledge of molecules involved in stem cell fate is a significant achievement. In vitro and in vivo experiments using these cells have provided promising results by the regeneration of a complete tooth with all dental structures including cells and extracellular matrix deposition. The

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