Dental pulp stem cells for bone tissue engineering: a review of the current literature and a look to the future

Abstract

The aim of this narrative review is to investigate the implication of mesenchymal stem cells harvested from human dental pulp in in vivo bone tissue regeneration. We focused on studies related to roles of human dental pulp stem cells in in vivo bone regeneration. A total of 1021 studies were identified; after the assessment of eligibility, only 39 studies were included in the review. The evaluated information of the studies regards the experimental strategies (e.g., the isolation method, the scaffold, the in vivo animal models). The overall main evidences highlighted from the analysis are that dental pulp stem cells and human-exfoliated deciduous teeth stem cells supported by a suitable scaffold should be considered a valuable source for bone tissue regeneration.