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REVIEW article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

Sec. Biomaterials

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1605672

Recent Advances in Hydrogels for Treating Periodontal Diseases and Oral Mucosal Diseases

Provisionally accepted
Yu  GuiYu Gui1Yunpeng  ZhangYunpeng Zhang1Haoyang  XuHaoyang Xu1Wanli  YangWanli Yang1Haitong  HuangHaitong Huang1Mengqin  GuMengqin Gu2*YU  SUNYU SUN1*
  • 1School of Stomatology, Hainan Medical University & Hainan Academy of Medical Sciences, Haikou, China
  • 2Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Periodontal and oral mucosal diseases are prevalent oral health challenges. Thanks to the natural constraints imposed by the moist and complex intraoral environment, current therapeutic modalities are significantly limited by two key issues: inefficient, low sustained drug release and short intraoral drug retention times, both of which compromise therapeutic efficacy. To address these challenges, hydrogels — a novel class of biomaterials with unique biological and physicochemical properties—have emerged as promising solutions. Hydrogels, with their 3-dimensional (3D) polymer network, are promising biological reagents, particularly for drug delivery. They achieve controlled and sustained release at target sites, and coupled to their therapeutic outcomes, their use in oral healthcare is critical. Consequently, hydrogels have been extensively investigated in both foundational and clinical research, particularly within a wound dressing context. This article systematically examines the limitations associated with conventional therapies and elucidates the mechanisms underpinning the therapeutic efficacy of hydrogels in managing different periodontal and oral mucosal diseases. Furthermore, we explore the clinical challenges and opportunities associated with applying hydrogel-based strategies in oral therapeutics, and we propose future directions for hydrogel research and development.

Keywords: Hydrogels, Adhesive hydrogels, Periodontal disease, Oral mucosal diseases, Therapeutic interventions

Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Gui, Zhang, Xu, Yang, Huang, Gu and SUN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Mengqin Gu, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
YU SUN, School of Stomatology, Hainan Medical University & Hainan Academy of Medical Sciences, Haikou, China

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