Stem Cell in Dentistry – Potential Contributions, Challenges and Future

Abstract

Stem cells are unspecialised and unclassified cells but their unique property “pluripotency” makes them special because it has opened the new doors of opportunities and possibilities in the field of dentistry and regenerative medicine to regenerate different organs and tissues. Currently, several studies are undergoing on dental stem cells (SCs) to find out their possible uses in oromaxillofacial region and various stem cells have already been identified for their application in orofacial region. Therefore, a new separate branch of dentistry names as “Regenerative Dentistry” is emerging very fast as dental stem cells offer a lot of benefits over outdated procedures andhave the ability to replace the old restorative techniques of repairing oromaxillofacial trauma which involve disadvantages like scarring, loss of function of replaced part, infection and donor site morbidity with early and late complications [1]. Although oromaxillofacial region is difficult to repair because of its complex anatomical structure but undoubtedly,from past few decades, regeneration of this region using stem cell therapy has also fascinated the entire world of stem cell biologists, molecular biologists, geneticists, clinicians and dentists to discover new advancements in the field of craniofacial engineering[2]. Clearly, future of dentistry lies in stem-cell based powerful therapeutic approach which can potentially transform the reparative and regeneration process of defective hard and soft tissues in orofacial region.