ABSTRACT
The tooth is a complex organ, consisting of both highly mineralized and soft tissue components. Humans cannot regenerate permanent teeth, and human dental tissues do not exhibit significant regenerative capabilities. Tissue engineering, a relatively new science for tissue and organ regeneration, integrates knowledge learned from the overlapping fields of developmental biology, molecular/cellular biology, molecular genetics, and chemical engineering (Langer & Vacanti,1993; Sittinger et al.,1996; Bohl et al., 1998; Kim & Vacanti 1999; Mooney & Mikos, 1999; Stock & Vacanti, 2001 and Vacanti et al., 2001). Although surgical techniques for successful organ transplantation have improved significantly, facilitated in part by the availability of immunosuppressive drugs, organ donor shortage remains a worldwide problem (Langer & Vacanti,1993). To address this shortage, strategies for tissue regeneration, as first described by Langer and Vacanti (1993), and Kaigler and Mooney (2001), can be classified into three types-conductive, inductive and cellular transplantation-the latter of which has guided the approach taken by this group for tooth tissue engineering.
