Tissue Engineering for the Periodontium

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Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disorder leading to tooth loosening and, if untreated, tooth loss. Once bone destruction has occurred around teeth the treatment outcomes are severely compromised and are mainly focussed towards slowing the process of destruction rather than repairing the damage. Over the last decade, treatment of advanced periodontal disease has focussed on ways in which the damaged tissues may be regenerated. We now have gained considerable insight into the molecular and cellular events associated with periodontal regeneration. Despite efforts to induce regeneration through the selective use of growth and differentiation factors it is becoming obvious that the most significant factor in successful clinical outcomes is the recruitment of special cells to the site of damage which have the potential to repair tissue damage. Thus, we intend to engineer different types of periodontal matrices in the laboratory and then transplant these newly formed tissues into sites affected by periodontal disease in an attempt to repair the damage caused by the disease process.