Elaboración de un biodiente: enfoque actual y desafíos

Background: Edentulism is one of the major oral health problems that cause physiological, social,aesthetic, phonetic, and nutritional issues. Current therapies for dental replacement are artificial and do not satisfy the basic requirements of a natural tooth. Tissue bioengineering could be a viable alternative to substitute lost teeth. Objective: To identify current available approaches/techniques to obtain a complete bioengineered tooth (bio-tooth) and to point out future challenges and perspectives. Methods: This was an integrative literature review. Search keywords used were: bio-tooth, tissue bioengineering, whole tooth, stem cells. The search included the years 2000 through 2018, using the databases PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO, Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, Lilacs and Google Scholar, both in English and Spanish. Only relevant and pertinent articles and books were selected. Results: 53 articles and 10 books were obtained. Methods for bio-tooth generation found were: scaffolds, scaffold-free, induced pluripotent stem cells, tooth organ germ, chimeric tooth, and stimulation of third dentition formation. Achieving normal tooth size and shape and obtaining epithelial cells are the main challenges. Conclusions: The possibility of creating and developing a whole bioengineered tooth (bio-tooth) in an adult oral environment is becoming more realistic, considering the daily biotechnological advances. It is possible that these concepts will be the basis of restorative dentistry in a near future.