Teeth and bones are typical hard tissues in vertebrates. Due to hierarchical structural characteristics and excellent mechanical properties, hard tissues play important roles in the human body, such as health protection, movement support, and food mastication. Once hard tissue defect occurs, our living quality will be seriously affected. In general, hard tissues lack the ability to self-repair, except for the regeneration ability of bone for small-scale defects. As a result, the past few decades have witnessed great progress in the field of biomaterials for hard tissue repair. Actually, both teeth and bone are masterpieces of biomineralization in nature, the repair and regeneration of hard tissues should be performed in a biomimetic way, either by using a biomimetic mineralization strategy or biomimetic materials.
For bone regeneration, biomaterials should serve as desirable scaffolds not only to offer a microenvironment closer to in vivo conditions, but also to exhibit excellent bioactivity, biocompatibility, and osteogenic properties. Combined with cell seeding and bioactive molecule functionalization, a faster repair rate and better regeneration quality in bone defects would be expected. For tooth repair, biomimetic approaches should be developed to remineralize dentin and enamel, manage dentin hypersensitivity, enhance the restorative materials with remineralizing/antibacterial ability, or mimic natural teeth from multiple perspectives (such as morphology, strength, and color). Accordingly, new biomaterials, methodologies, approaches, and theories for hard tissue repair and regeneration need to be continually invented.
The scope of this collection is therefore to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art regarding advanced biomaterials used to repair or regenerate damaged hard tissues, as well as to highlight the most promising advanced strategies other than suggest the future direction in the field. In this Research Topic, we welcome researchers to submit original articles, reviews, and letters, including but not limited to the following topics:
• Biomineralization-inspired materials.
• Biomaterials inspired by structures and functions in nature.
• Intrafibrillar/extrafibrillar mineralization of collagen-based biomaterials.
• Cell-laden functional biomaterials for bone regeneration.
• Dentin/enamel biomimetic mineralization.
• Advanced dental bonding materials or strategies.
• Dental materials with remineralizing/antibacterial ability.
• 3D/4D printing biomaterials.
• Intelligent wearable biomaterials/devices.
Teeth and bones are typical hard tissues in vertebrates. Due to hierarchical structural characteristics and excellent mechanical properties, hard tissues play important roles in the human body, such as health protection, movement support, and food mastication. Once hard tissue defect occurs, our living quality will be seriously affected. In general, hard tissues lack the ability to self-repair, except for the regeneration ability of bone for small-scale defects. As a result, the past few decades have witnessed great progress in the field of biomaterials for hard tissue repair. Actually, both teeth and bone are masterpieces of biomineralization in nature, the repair and regeneration of hard tissues should be performed in a biomimetic way, either by using a biomimetic mineralization strategy or biomimetic materials.
For bone regeneration, biomaterials should serve as desirable scaffolds not only to offer a microenvironment closer to in vivo conditions, but also to exhibit excellent bioactivity, biocompatibility, and osteogenic properties. Combined with cell seeding and bioactive molecule functionalization, a faster repair rate and better regeneration quality in bone defects would be expected. For tooth repair, biomimetic approaches should be developed to remineralize dentin and enamel, manage dentin hypersensitivity, enhance the restorative materials with remineralizing/antibacterial ability, or mimic natural teeth from multiple perspectives (such as morphology, strength, and color). Accordingly, new biomaterials, methodologies, approaches, and theories for hard tissue repair and regeneration need to be continually invented.
The scope of this collection is therefore to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art regarding advanced biomaterials used to repair or regenerate damaged hard tissues, as well as to highlight the most promising advanced strategies other than suggest the future direction in the field. In this Research Topic, we welcome researchers to submit original articles, reviews, and letters, including but not limited to the following topics:
• Biomineralization-inspired materials.
• Biomaterials inspired by structures and functions in nature.
• Intrafibrillar/extrafibrillar mineralization of collagen-based biomaterials.
• Cell-laden functional biomaterials for bone regeneration.
• Dentin/enamel biomimetic mineralization.
• Advanced dental bonding materials or strategies.
• Dental materials with remineralizing/antibacterial ability.
• 3D/4D printing biomaterials.
• Intelligent wearable biomaterials/devices.