Regeneration approaches for dental pulp and periapical tissues with growth factors, biomaterials, and laser irradiation

In current dental practice, restorative and endodontic procedures have been developed in an attempt to preserve the vitality of dental pulp after exposure to external stimuli such as caries infection. When damage to dental pulp is reversible, pulp wound healing can proceed, whereas irreversible damage induces pathological changes in dental pulp, eventually requiring its removal. Furthermore, dentists sometimes extract non-vital teeth because of severe caries progression, critical size of periapical lesion, and tooth fracture. To overcome the limitations of presently available therapies, it is important to develop regeneration therapy for dental pulp and periapical tissues. In this review, we focus on the regeneration of dental pulp and periapical tissues by application of exogenous growth factors and scaffolds, as well as low-intensity laser irradiation as an auxiliary therapy for regeneration therapy.