STEM CELLS IN REGENERATIVE ENDODONTICS

Endodontic treatment is helpful in saving millions of teeth each year, but at present the focus has shifted towards regenerative approaches as an ideal form of therapy to treat diseased or necrotic pulp tissues. Regeneration of lost tissues has been known for a very long time, but their use in dentistry is gaining momentum. The growing understanding of biological regeneration has permitted the use of stem cells for regeneration and revascularisation ¹. The dental pulp contains a small sub population of stem cells that respond against caries progression and also secrete factors that have the ability to induce revascularization of pulp ². Stem cells re-search and scaffolding are the frequently used words in basic science pulp researches at present. Several techniques with their individual advantages, disadvantages and uses are being performed ³. In the past few years, many studies regarding stem cells and tissue engineering have been done giving rise to a separate branch called Regenerative Dentistry ⁴. Regenerative Endodontics uses the basic logic that the patient specific tissue derived cell population called stem cells can be used for regeneration and revascularisation. This concept of regene-ration of pulp dentin complex dates to almost 50 years when it was first reported be Nygaard and Ostby ^{5, 6}. The goal of this review article is to determine the significance of stem cells in performing regenerative endodontic therapy.