The Potential of Tissue Engineering and Regeneration for Craniofacial Bone

Bone regeneration is a complex, well-coordinated physiological process. Large quantities of bone regeneration are often required for craniofacial skeletal reconstruction of large bone defects created by trauma, tumor resection, infection, and skeletal abnormalities. Over the last two decades, a tissue engineering and regeneration approach has been developed as an alternative to conventional surgical treatments using bone grafts. Tissue engineering methods have several advantages including the potential to regenerate bone with natural form and function. This review presents several key elements of tissue engineering for craniofacial bone: the signaling molecules (proteins and genes); scaffolds or supporting matrices; and cells. Furthermore, the advantages, challenges, and risks related with each element will be discussed. *Corresponding author: Seiichi Yamano, Department of Prosthodontics, New York University College of Dentistry, 345 East 24th Street, 4W, New York, NY 10010, USA, Tel: 212-998-9714; Fax: 212-992-7100; E-mail: [email protected] Received March 15, 2012; Accepted May 15, 2012; Published May 21, 2012 Citation: Yamano S, Haku K, Ishioka M, Lin TY, Hanatani S, et al. (2012) The Potential of Tissue Engineering and Regeneration for Craniofacial Bone. Dentistry 2:136. doi:10.4172/2161-1122.1000136 Copyright: © 2012 Yamano S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.