Revolutionizing periodontitis treatment: The promise of GelMA hydrogel

Periodontitis is a common oral inflammatory disease that causes persistent damage to periodontal soft and hard tissues. The current clinical treatments for periodontitis all have varying degrees of defects. As a promising biomaterial, gelatine methacryloyl (GelMA) exhibits favorable biocompatibility and modifiable physicochemical properties, demonstrating considerable potential for applications in periodontal disease therapy. It can be used as a drug carrier to accurately deliver therapeutic substances such as antibiotics and growth factors to the lesion sites of periodontitis through a controlled drug release mode, which can enhance localized drug bioavailability while effectively minimizing adverse systemic reactions. Moreover, GelMA hydrogel can be used as a cellular scaffold and mimic extracellular matrix for stem cell proliferation and differentiation. However, several challenges remain, such as optimizing the mechanical properties of hydrogels to better match the stress environment of periodontal tissue, improving the drug loading efficiency and controlled release accuracy, and exploring the long-term stability of hydrogels in human clinical trials. Here, we systematically review the basic physicochemical properties of GelMA hydrogels and recent advances in their study in periodontitis treatment. This review addresses the shortcomings of GelMA hydrogel in periodontitis treatment, compares it with other drug delivery systems, and points out future optimization directions.