[Application of biomimetic restoration in oral-maxillofacial hard tissue repair]

Oral-maxillofacial hard tissue is the support of maxillofacial structure and appearance, and lays the foundation for functions of oral and maxillofacial system. Once the defect occurs, it will not only affect the physiological functions such as chewing and pronunciation, but also have a significant impact on the psychological and social life of patients. However, the self-repairing capability of the oral-maxillofacial hard tissue is pretty limited, in which case, substitute materials are required for tissue repair. A huge gap exists between the physical, chemical, structural characteristics of conventional substitute materials and those of human hard tissues, resulting in poor repair effect. Based on this, scholars simulated the process of biomineralization in the development of hard tissues, to improve the structure and function of materials through biomimetic mineralization technology and enhance the repair performance of materials. The current understanding of biomineralization theory and the construction of biomimetic repair technology is still in the stage of rapid development. In recent years, a mass of innovative studies are keeping emerging. In this review, the representative advances in the repair of oral-maxillofacial hard tissues of the past five years are reviewed.