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Using bioactive nanomaterials in clinical treatment has been widely aroused. Nanomaterials provide substantial improvements in the prevention and treatment of oral and maxillofacial diseases. This review aims to discuss new progresses in nanomaterials applied to oral and maxillofacial tissue regeneration and disease treatment, focusing on the use of nanomaterials in improving the quality of oral and maxillofacial healthcare, and discuss the perspectives of research in this arena. Details are provided on the tissue regeneration, wound healing, angiogenesis, remineralization, antitumor, and antibacterial regulation properties of nanomaterials including polymers, micelles, dendrimers, liposomes, nanocapsules, nanoparticles and nanostructured scaffolds, etc. Clinical applications of nanomaterials as nanocomposites, dental implants, mouthwashes, biomimetic dental materials, and factors that may interact with nanomaterials behaviors and bioactivities in oral cavity are addressed as well. In the last section, the clinical safety concerns of their usage as dental materials are updated, and the key knowledge gaps for future research with some recommendation are discussed. This article is categorized under: Implantable Materials and Surgical Technologies > Nanomaterials and Implants Implantable Materials and Surgical Technologies > Nanotechnology in Tissue Repair and Replacement.

Electrospun fiber scaffolds, due to their mimicry of bone extracellular matrix (ECM), have become an important biomaterial widely applied in bone tissue engineering in recent years. While topographic cues of electrospun membranes such as alignment and diameter played vital roles in determining cellular behaviors. Yet few researches about the effects of these two significant parameters on osteogenesis have been reported. Thus, the present work explored the influence of aligned and random poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA) fiber matrices with diameters of nanoscale (0.6 μm) and microscale (1.2 μm), respectively, on cellular responses of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), such as cell adhesion, migration, proliferation and osteogenesis. Our results revealed that aligned nanofibers (AN) could affect cell morphology and promote the migration of BMSCs after 24 h of cell culturing. Besides, AN group was observed to possess excellent biocompatibility and have significantly improved cell growth comparing with random nanofibers. More importantly, in vitro osteogenesis researches including ALP and Alizarin Red S staining, qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that BMSCs culturing on AN group exhibited higher osteogenic induction proficiency than that on aligned microfibers (AM) and random fiber substrates (RN and RM). Accordingly, aligned nanofiber scaffolds have greater application potential in bone tissue engineering.