Dental regeneration and materials: a partnership

Considerable focus on the biocompatibility of dental materials over the last three decades has provided a platform for a wealth of studies on the cellular and molecular responses of the cells of the pulp to injury, both from the disease process and from subsequent restorative intervention. These studies have been fundamental to understanding not only how we can achieve a biocompatible response during restoration of dental disease but also how we can exploit the pulpal cellular responses to achieve wound healing and tissue regeneration in the dentine-pulp complex. This article examines the responses of the pulp to injury and the events leading to tissue regeneration. As new biologically based regenerative therapies emerge for the dental tissues, it is important that these develop in partnership with more traditional approaches using dental materials.