Tissue Engineering for the Periodontium

牙周病是一种炎症性疾病，会导致牙齿松动，如果不治疗，还会导致牙齿脱落。一旦牙齿周围发生骨破坏，治疗结果就会严重受损，主要集中在减缓破坏过程，而不是修复损害。在过去的十年里，晚期牙周病的治疗主要集中在损伤组织再生的方法上。我们现在对与牙周再生相关的分子和细胞事件有了相当深入的了解。尽管通过选择性地使用生长和分化因子来诱导再生，但越来越明显的是，在成功的临床结果中，最重要的因素是在损伤部位招募特殊细胞，这些细胞具有修复组织损伤的潜力。因此，我们打算在实验室中工程不同类型的牙周基质，然后将这些新形成的组织移植到受牙周病影响的部位，试图修复疾病过程中造成的损害。

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.