Mesenchymal Stem Cells Based Treatment in Dental Medicine: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in regenerative therapeutic procedures is becoming an increasingly important topic in medicine. Since the first isolation of dental tissue-derived MSC, there has been an intense investigation on the characteristics and potentials of these cells in regenerative dentistry. Their multidifferentiation potential, self-renewal capacity, and easy accessibility give them a key role in stem cell-based therapy. So far, several different dental stem cell types have been discovered and their potential usage is found in most of the major dental medicine branches. These cells are also researched in multiple fields of medicine for the treatment of degenerative and inflammatory diseases. In this review, we summarized dental MSC sources and analyzed their treatment modalities with particular emphasis on temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA).

Keywords: dental stem cells; mesenchymal stem cells; regenerative dentistry; regenerative endodontic treatment; temporomandibular joint disorders; tissue regeneration.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of three different regenerative endodontic treatment (RET) strategies. Cell-free strategy (CF) mainly relies on induced bleeding from periapical tissues, bringing different cells like mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), immunoglobulins, cytokines, and growth factors (GFs) into a root canal. Cell-based strategy (CB) relies on the interplay between three main factors of the “tissue engineering triad”: stem cells, signaling molecules, and scaffolds. Exosome strategy presents an intermediate approach using conditioned medium (CM) of MSCs. Created with BioRender.com.