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Review
. 2016 Jan 26;9(2):73.
doi: 10.3390/ma9020073.

Potential of Electrospun Nanofibers for Biomedical and Dental Applications

Muhammad Zafar  1 , Shariq Najeeb  2 , Zohaib Khurshid  3 , Masoud Vazirzadeh  4 , Sana Zohaib  5 , Bilal Najeeb  6 , Farshid Sefat  7   8   9
Affiliations
Review

Potential of Electrospun Nanofibers for Biomedical and Dental Applications

Muhammad Zafar et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Electrospinning is a versatile technique that has gained popularity for various biomedical applications in recent years. Electrospinning is being used for fabricating nanofibers for various biomedical and dental applications such as tooth regeneration, wound healing and prevention of dental caries. Electrospun materials have the benefits of unique properties for instance, high surface area to volume ratio, enhanced cellular interactions, protein absorption to facilitate binding sites for cell receptors. Extensive research has been conducted to explore the potential of electrospun nanofibers for repair and regeneration of various dental and oral tissues including dental pulp, dentin, periodontal tissues, oral mucosa and skeletal tissues. However, there are a few limitations of electrospinning hindering the progress of these materials to practical or clinical applications. In terms of biomaterials aspects, the better understanding of controlled fabrication, properties and functioning of electrospun materials is required to overcome the limitations. More in vivo studies are definitely required to evaluate the biocompatibility of electrospun scaffolds. Furthermore, mechanical properties of such scaffolds should be enhanced so that they resist mechanical stresses during tissue regeneration applications. The objective of this article is to review the current progress of electrospun nanofibers for biomedical and dental applications. In addition, various aspects of electrospun materials in relation to potential dental applications have been discussed.

Keywords: dental materials; dentistry; nanomaterials; nanotechnology; regeneration; tissue engineering.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic presentation of electrospinning process (a) a typical electrospinning equipment and its components (b) modifications of collector for aligning electrospun nanofibers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fabrication of three dimensional (3D) electrospun scaffolds using regenerated natural Bombyx mori silk; (a) modification of electrospinning collector; (b) electrospun scaffold; (c) 3D natural silk electrospun using oval shape collector.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic presentation of using electrospinning scaffolds for tissue engineering of various oral and dental tissues.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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