Biological dental implant: Myth or reality?

The currently available options for tooth-loss are prostheses, implants, or surgery (auto-transplantation). They all have their limitations. The emergence of tissue engineering, 15 years ago, was made possible by a better knowledge of the various stages of dental development, and the mastery of stem cell differentiation. It opened a new alternative approach for tooth regeneration. Even if animal experiments have demonstrated that it was possible to obtain a biological tooth from stem cells, two major issues remain to be discussed. Is it possible to use induced pluripotent stem cells instead of embryonic stern cells, which raise an ethical problem? Is it possible to reproduce a dental crown with an adapted shape and colour? Or should we consider the simpler creation of a biological root secondarily covered by a ceramic prosthesis? Our study mentions the main landmarks and the key cells involved in the embryological development of the tooth, establishes a mapping and a list of the various types of stem cells. It details the various methods used to create a biological implant. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.